DAILY STAR: Negros Oriental

The Precinct Count Optical Scan machines, official ballots and other election paraphernalia for the towns and cities of Negros Oriental will be sent out May 1 as agreed in a meeting of the provincial Joint Peace and Security Coordinating Council yesterday.

Acting provincial election supervisor Juvenal Tuale said the official ballots will be deployed Wednesday, in the presence of town and city treasurers, representatives of the political parties, candidates, and citizens’ arms.

The official ballots arrived Friday from Bacolod City and are stored in container vans at the provincial hub in Looc, Dumaguete City.

CHR TELLS BETS
Don’t use minors
in propaganda
BY JUDY F. PARTLOW

Special investigator Jess Cañete of the Commission on Human Rights in Negros Oriental yesterday warned political candidates not to exploit minors in campaigning for the May 13 polls.

This was after a 14-year-old parking attendant said that he and his companion were paid P50 each last week to distribute a two-page document at the Dumaguete Public Market.

The boy said that on April 21, two men asked him and his companion to distribute three plastic bags of folded sheets of paper.

AFP offering
cash for NPA guns
BY GILBERT BAYORAN

The Armed Forces of the Philippines is offering cash incentives and livelihood programs to members of the New People’s Army, who surrender with their firearms, under its Guns for Peace Program.

Maj. Gen. Jose Mabanta, 3rd Infantry Division commander, yesterday said the firearms remuneration package is intended to support the rebel returnees and their families, as they slowly integrate themselves into mainstream society.

Mabanta said the AFP will pay P200,000 for light machine guns, P60,000 for M-14 assault rifle, P50,000 for Colt M-16 armalite rifle, and P40,000 for M-203 grenade launcher.

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