BACOLOD CITY — Almost 2.818 million voters in Negros Occidental, including its capital Bacolod City, are expected to cast their votes during the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections on Monday.
Commission on Elections data showed that in Negros Occidental, the total number of registered voters is 2.431 million, including 1.751 million regular voters and 680,467 SK voters.
In Bacolod, there are 386,403 registered voters, including 294,854 regular voters and 91,549 SK voters.
The regular voters are those who are 18 years old and above while the SK voters are those who are 15 to 30 years old.
A total of 14,672 barangay candidates and 8,876 aspirants for SK positions are running for posts in 662 villages in the province.
In the capital city, more than 2,300 candidates are vying for various barangay and SK positions.
The manual voting started at 7 a.m. and will end at 3 p.m.
The Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office has deployed a total of 1,811 personnel to secure Monday’s elections.
These include some 1,394 policemen from all city and municipal stations in Negros Occidental; 177 from the provincial headquarters; 160 from the Regional Police Holding Assistance Unit; and 80 from the Bacolod City Police Office.
Additional personnel were also deployed by the Philippine Army, Bureau of Fire Protection, Special Action Force, and the Regional Mobile Battalion Force-6.
The Bacolod City Police Office dispatched 517 police officers to secure the 45 voting centers and man the seven strategic points here.
Assistance is also provided by 84 personnel of the Bureau of Fire Protection and 585 people from the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office and other rescue units. (Nanette Guadalquiver/PNA)
