BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – The province of Negros Occidental and Bacolod City need 2,906 Voting Counting Machines (VCMs) for the synchronized national and local elections on May 9.
Negros Occidental has a total of 1,946,639 registered voters, while Bacolod City has 327,403. Combined, Negros Occidental is the sixth vote-rich province in the country, according to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) Negros Occidental.
Provincial election officer Atty. Robert Salazar said after the Holy Week observance, election paraphernalia would be stored in the Comelec warehouse.
As for the transport of VCMs, he said these would be closely guarded by the Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine Coast Guard until these reach the voting centers, particularly in areas that have been tagged as areas of concern.
The election areas of concern in Negros Occidental are the following:
* Red – Candoni, Moises Padilla, Escalate City, and Calatrava
* Orange – Manapla, Silay City, Victorias City, Toboso, Binalbagan, Himamaylan City, Kabankalan City, Hinoba-an, Sipalay City, Isabela, La Castellana, Ilog, and Cauayan
* Yellow – Don Salvador Benedicto
Comelec Resolution No. 10757 established a classification for election areas of concern using colors as codes.
“Yellow” is for “areas of concern” while “Orange” points to “areas of immediate concern”. “Red” is the designation of “areas of grave concern”.
Under Comelec Resolution No. 10757, an area shall be classified as “Yellow” when it has either of the following:
* occurrence of suspected election-related incidents (ERI) in the last two elections provided there was no participation of domestic terror groups
* existence of intention partisan political rivalry with no participation of domestic terror groups
* possible employment of partisan armed groups (PAGs) by candidates in the area
* occurrence of politically-motivated ERI in the current election period, provided there is no participation of domestic terror groups; or
* the area had been previously placed under Comelec control
On the other hand, an area is classified “Orange” if it has:
* a combination of two or more factors in category Yellow
* there is serious armed threats posed by the Communist Terrorist Group (CTG), and/or other threat groups like the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), the Maute Group, and Abu Sayyaf Group, and other analogous threats groups as may be declared by competent authority
An area is deemed “Red” when:
* there is one or more factors described under category Yellow, together with serious armed threats posed by CTG and or other threat groups
* history of/or current intense rivalry among contending parties and such rivalries could motivate people to engage in violent acts
* the area has been previously placed under Comelec control
* incidence of politically-motivated violence involving aspirants / candidates and / or their supporters
* violence facilitated by the employment of PAGs/PN
