BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – The Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) has not monitored private armed groups in the city as it prepares for the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections on Oct. 30.
Police Major Joery Puerto, head of BCPO’’s Intelligence Unit, yesterday said they conducted a threat assessment on the city’s top officials and village officials; all of them have not received threats.
Puerto also said the city’s elected officials do not have private armies although he noted that several of them have bodyguards authorized by the Philippine National Police (PNP).
PNP-Public Information Office (PNP-PIO) data released on Monday, May 22, showed a total of 48 private armed groups being monitored across the country: three were tagged as “active” and 45 as “potentially active.”
Police Brigadier General Redrico Maranan, PNP-PIO chief, said these groups are heavily involved in murder and harassment cases, especially during elections.
Maranan added that among the regions being monitored for private armed groups are Western Visayas, Cordillera Administrative Region, Central Luzon, Bicol Region, CARAGA Administrative Region, and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao./PN
