The declaration of the 4th district of Negros Occidental as peaceful and ready for further development is slated to be signed Feb. 25, as the nation marks its People Power anniversary.

The signing rites will be held during the Provincial Peace and Order Council meeting at the Provincial Capitol in Bacolod City, Provincial Planning and Development Officer Ma. Lina Sanogal said.

Expected to attend the declaration signing rites are mayors of La Carlota and Bago cities, municipalities of Valladolid, San Enrique, Pulupandan and Pontevedra, Col. Jon Aying, 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, Senior Supt. Milko Lirazan, provincial police director of Negros Occidental, among other security officials, and Gov. Alfredo Maranon Jr.

Sanogal said not a single insurgency-related incident had taken place in the district for more than a decade now.

The declaration is made by local government officials and security sectors in areas where there have been no insurgency-related activity for more than two decades, there are positive indicators of improved delivery of social health services, a wide reach of justice in its rural areas, and manageable criminal activities.

Aying said the declaration and signing in the Third District, composed of the cities of Victorias, Silay and Talisay, Murcia and EB Magalona, may take place next month.

Marañon said he hopes this will escalate in the whole province, that is now peaceful and ready for tourists and investors, with the insurgency problem now more of banditry and atrocities, and no longer driven by ideology.

. The Army’s 303rd Infantry Brigade headed by Aying is targeting to declare the whole province as peaceful and ready for further development by June this year, with pockets of the insurgency problem noted only in some hinterland areas of the 1st, 5th and 6th districts of Negros Occidental.* GPB

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