Send-off ceremony held
for 474 cops on poll duty

A send-off ceremony was held at the BCPO headquarters yesterday for the 474 members of the Bacolod City Police Office, who will be assigned to various posts for Monday’s elections.

It started with an ecumenical prayer led by Imam Omar Betita of the DAR-AI-DKHER Islamic Call, Pastor Luisito Tomado of the Negros Occidental Conference of Seventh Day Adventist, and Teodora Cabilso of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting in Bacolod.

Of the group, 191 will be assigned to polling precincts, 33 as crowd disbursal management personnel, 64 in Police Station Election Monitoring Action Centers, 26 to secure the Precinct Count Optical Scan machines, 21 to the City Election Monitoring Action Center, 30 as mobile security team, 20 in the canvassing area at the Bacolod Government Center, and 16 for the BGC perimeter security.

The inspection team will have 14 personnel, 15 at the headquarters’ group, 14 in beat patrol, and 16 as special detail policemen.

Bacolod elections officer Salud Milagros Villanueva, Lt. Col. Clemente Socorro Buenafe Jr., of the 303rd Infantry Brigade, BCPO officer-in-charge, Senior Supt. Edgardo Ordaniel, and Cabilso gave messages at the rites.

Senior Insp. Lester Leada, BCPO Operations chief, said other policemen were assigned to the Bacolod Comelec Office, BAYS Center, and major roads, with four to six cops dispatched to the 45 voting centers of Bacolod on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Supt. Armando Tubongbanua, BCPO spokesperson, said anybody can arrest those engaging in vote-buying, or should call for police assistance immediately.*SGG

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130 loose guns
seized in Negros

The Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office topped the campaign in the recovery of loose firearms in Western Visayas, records of the Police Regional Office 6 show.

A total of 130 firearms were recovered by NOPPO from January to May 7 this year, its records also show.

Senior Supt. Ricardo de la Paz, officer-in-charge of the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office, yesterday attributed this to their intensified campaign against the proliferation of loose firearms, in line with the May 13 elections.

In the same period, 51 violators were also arrested, de la Paz added.

The PRO-6 reported that an estimated 33,00 loose guns are possessed by individuals as of August 31, with 29,292 of them individual guns and the rest juridical firearms.

As of last month, more than 280 persons had been arrested for violation of the Comelec gun ban, with Bacolod and Iloilo City Police Offices having the most number of violators arrested, followed by NOPPO and five other provincial police offices in the region.*GPB

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‘Man hangs self’

A man reportedly committed suicide at his house in Brgy. Old Poblacion, Escalante City, Negros Occidental, at about 3 p.m. Wednesday, due to love problems.

Senior Police Officer 1 Angelo Morones of the Escalante Police identified the fatality as Richie Sinadjan, 19, who was found hanging lifeless from the ceiling of his room by his mother.

The police recovered a nylon rope that Sinadjan reportedly used in hanging himself, and a suicide note addressed to his family, Morones said.

The body was brought to the Vicente Gustilo District Hospital for autopsy, Morones added.*PAMELA I. VIEDOR

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