The Philippine Army in Negros and Panay will not succumb to political pressures and will not allow any politician to use the military for their personal or political activities, Maj. Gen. Jose Mabanta, its commander, said.

Mabanta said the recent incidents in Negros Occidental, like the assassination of a policeman and police asset, and the grenade firing into the compound of a mayor in Escalante City and Manapla, respectively, have caused alarm among the politicians and Negrenses, and led to assumptions that the military and police personnel are being tagged, along with the political rivalries.

The slain police asset, Joseph Lutrago, is claimed to be a supporter of Escalante mayoral candidate Santiago Barcelona, while the grenade attack at the residential compound of Mayor Lourdes Escalante is being linked to politics.

Mabanta said the AFP and PNP will remain vigilant and steadfast to ensure honest, orderly and peaceful elections and are exerting all efforts to determine and apprehend groups and personalities who intend to undermine the electoral process

A combined team of military and police personnel recently apprehended Greg Tuayon, said to be the regional finance bureau chief of Komiteng Rehiyonal-Negros in Manapla, by virtue of arrest warrants for robbery-in-band, homicide and murder.

Mabanta said Tuayon is believed be one of the master planners of tactical offensives by the NPA assassins in Negros, in tandem with Romeo Nanta, alias Juaning, who was freed from jail last year, after posting bail for robbery-in-band charges and arson.

He said the AFP and PNP are doing their best to arrest the perpetrators in the recent incidents in Negros Occidental.

Mabanta say they have received intelligence reports that some groups have been hired to instigate violence before and during the May 13 elections.

He called on all the candidates, civil society organizations, religious groups and the citizenry to be more vigilant in preventing violence and not to be swayed by the use of guns, goons and gold,.

“Aside from the implementation of election laws, the only political exercise that we are allowed to do during this coming election is to vote,” Mabanta reminded soldiers in Negros and Panay.*GPB

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