NEGROS-BASED military forces said private armies, protected by big-time politicians and landlords, "does not alarm" them nor a headache for the PNP come the May 10 elections.
61st IB-Civil Military Operations (CMO) chief Lt. Joselito Dalida said Thursday politicians and known landowners in the province are not much involved in creating their own forces, although some has numbers of securities that for the military considers it as normal.
"Private armies are not a problem for the Army and the PNP in Negros," said Dalida, adding that "the only enemy on the line is the New People's Army (NPA)."
Dalida said Negros is not in the lists of hotspots in the country where noticeable number of private armies exist.
The AFP earlier said private armies are very rampant in the provinces of Ilocos, Samar, and the rest of the provinces in Mindanao under the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (Armm).
The Ampatuans, linked to the November 23 Maguindanao Massacre, is one of the previously untouchable warlords in Armm, holding a large numbers of private armies.
But Dalida said they won't take for granted that Negros is hotspot-free for private armies.
He said "we don't know who is going to be the enemies."
"What's best is that we're always ready to protect the people," he added.
Dalida also said their main concerns are to tighten the campaign against the NPA and help the PNP in monitoring the gun ban as preparation for the May 10, 2010 elections.