DAILY STAR: Negros Oriental

The Negros Oriental Provincial Police Office recorded 53 shooting incidents, with 19 deaths, since the start of the election period January 13 in the province, its deputy director, Supt. Alet Virtucio, said yesterday.

But he stressed that none of the shooting incidents has been directly linked to politics as the campaign heats up for the elections on Monday. He said the motives for the cases ranged from land disputes, personal grudges and probable links to the illegal drugs trade.

Virtucio said the shooting incident in Jimalalud town and that in Sibulan should be election-related, but this could not be verified in the absence of witnesses, or formal complaints.

P9.7M released for bonus
of Dumaguete employees
BY JUANCHO GALLARDE

The Dumaguete City government released yesterday P9.7 million to pay half of the 13th month and cash bonuses of its employees, Mayor Manuel Sagarbarria said.

He also belied accusations of mismanagement of the city financial resources, and stressed he has proven his detractors wrong with a P12 million surplus at the end of 2012.

Sagarbarria said the amount was released not because of the elections on Monday, but since the employees’ remuneration is usually given every second week of May.

PCOS testing, sealing
successful – Comelec
BY JUDY F. PARTLOW

Except for two units that had to be replaced, and two others awaiting new memory cards, all other Precinct Count Optical Scan machines for Negros Oriental were successfully tested and sealed, and ready for use on Monday.

Provincial Elections Supervisor Juvenal Tuale said the Comelec has completed the final testing and sealing of the 1,076 PCOS machines, and the two broken units in Guihulngan City and Siaton will be replaced.

He said the busted units will be returned to the Comelec central office for replacement, that will hopefully arrive before the elections.

Email: visayandailystar@yahoo.com