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BY RANIE AZUE
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Thursday, October 19, 2017
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BACOLOD City – Negros Occidental is a “generally peaceful” province and “very much ready for development,” claimed Vice Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson.
Lacson and the Sangguniang Panlalawigan conferred with top police and military officials on Wednesday to get updates on the peace and order situation of the province.
Senior Superintendent Rodolfo Castil Jr., provincial police director, and Colonel Eliezer Losañes, Philippine Army’s 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, discussed crime incidence and the New People’s Army (NPA).
The vice governor declined to give details of their discussion.
All he said was they have concluded that Negros Occidental is a peaceful province.
“We declared Negros Occidental peaceful and ready for development two years ago, and we wanted to determine if the situation is still the same,” he said.
Lacson said they were “convinced” that Negros Occidental may invite and secure more local and foreign tourists.
Suspected NPA rebels ambushed police officers in Barangay Caliling, Cauayan town early this month. The incident raised security concerns.
Five police officers on board a patrol vehicle were responding to a robbery alarm when the suspected rebels who positioned themselves on the hills fired at them at around 1 p.m. on Oct. 3.
Police said the officers and the suspected rebels traded gunshots for 15 to 30 minutes.
Three civilians on board an Isuzu Crosswind trailing the police vehicle before the shootout were wounded.
On Tuesday, Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. expressed confidence that the Cauayan ambush will not discourage tourists from visiting the province.
The incident did not “catch the national and international media’s attention,” said Marañon./PN
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