REELEECTED Himamaylan City Mayor Raymund Tongson has called on Negrenses to unite and support the incoming administration of presumptive president Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.

Tongson, the regional chairman of the campaign team of Marcos in Western Visayas, is also a member of Partido Federal ng Pilipinas where the leading presidential candidate is affiliated.

"At the end of the day, what we want to happen in Negros Occidental is to maximize the programs and projects (and) we can easily implement this if we are a united Negrenses," he stressed Tuesday, May 17.

When asked for projects [for his locality] he would push under Marcos’ administration, Tongson replied "whatever hard or soft projects they can give us in Himamaylan City, it will be much appreciated."

What he is praying now, he said, is if he can maximize their network in Manila so they can request more infrastructure projects as well as soft programs for the city.

Data from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) showed that Marcos’ rival, Vice President Leni Robredo, won a slim margin over him in the vote-rich province of Negros Occidental.

Based on the May 10 partial and unofficial tally of the Comelec, with 99.8 percent of election returns counted, Robredo obtained 527,321 votes in the province, while Marcos only had 482,344.

It is not the same case, however, in the province's capital Bacolod City where all the election returns have already been tabulated.

Robredo fell short to Marcos who had 121,179 votes. She only had 112,051 votes, it added.

Meanwhile, Tongson called as “isolated cases” the encounters between the military and New People's Army (NPA) in the southern Negros Occidental city.

"What we are doing is, we are exhausting our projects in the hinterland areas of the city,” he explained, adding that sooner or later, the insurgency in Himamaylan will eventually be solved.

He said that they will let the Philippine Army do their job and the local government will support the affected communities.*