Negros region police force to be disbanded

BACOLOD CITY – Following the abolition of the Negros Island Region last August, its police force is expected to be disbanded next month.

The Police Regional Office 18 was activated in November 2015, after the Negros Island Region was created under the administration of President Benigno Aquino III. The region was dissolved by President Rodrigo Duterte on August 8.

Negros Island Region Police Director Chief Supt. Edmund Gonzales said Tuesday they expect to complete the listing of police personnel that will be assigned in Western and Central Visayas in the middle of this month. The regional police has more than 4,000 officers.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has given the Philippine National Police (PNP), Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, and Bureau of Fire Protection, until October 25 to dissolve their regional offices.

Coordination with the Directorate for Logistics at Camp Crame is ongoing to equally distribute the equipment to NIR’s parent units, with the rest returned to Crame, he said.

Gonzales said they will soon start reassigning personnel to Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, and Bacolod City.

The deactivation of the police force will not affect non-commissioned officers, except for the regional staff and division chiefs who may be re-assigned to other regions, or Camp Crame, he said.