New voters increasing,
more machines arrive
BY CARLA GOMEZ

The Commission on Elections yesterday beefed up the voters registration capability of its personnel in Negros Occidental with the number of registrants expected to increase as the deadline on October 31 nears.

Twenty-two more Voters Registration Machines sent by the COMELEC head office in Manila arrived in Negros Occidental yesterday, Elections Provincial Supervisor Jessie Suarez said.

These are in addition to the 40 machines already distributed throughout Negros Occidental, he said.

Police to step up drive
vs. guns as polls near
BY GILBERT BAYORAN

The accounting of loose firearms is now the top priority of the Police Regional Office 6 as it gears up its security preparations for the 2013 elections, its regional police director, Chief Supt. Agrimero Cruz, said yesterday.

PRO6 records show that there are 22,462 licensed firearms, with Negrenses. Of the number, 10,823 have expired licenses.

This is on top of an estimated 6,000 loose firearms in the possession of other individuals in Negros Occidental, police records also show.

Members of the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry and AyalaLand Inc. representatives met at the Manila Hotel Wednesday to discuss the company’s disengagement from the lease and purchase of the 7.7-hectare Capitol property in Bacolod City.

During the meeting, ALI, through its Corporate Communications head Jorge Miguel Marcó maintained that they will not change their mind, MBCCI president Frank Carbon, said yesterday.

Quoting Marco, Carbon said, ALI was elated with the decision of the Commission on Audit approving the deal between the company and the provincial government.