The Philippine National Police in Bohol is validating reports that two armed groups , were at one time or another were active in Bohol. Police Supt. Constantino Paul Barot, Jr., Bohol PNP director, can only appraise this far when asked to react a report from newspapers in Cebu that the two armed groups are said to be operating in Bohol. The two in Bohol are known as the Reyes and Galve groups and they form part of the 10 others in the entire Visayas which the Regional Intelligence Branch identified. The intelligence unit based in Cebu also identified Tagbilaran City, Trinidad and Carmen towns as part of places considered as belonging to the “election-watch list”. Asked to explain if he has any idea about the election watch list, Supt. Barot said he has yet to be briefed by the local PNP’s intelligence unit regarding the veracity of the report. However, he said basing upon earlier reports, he can confirm as far as saying that these places are potential hot spots in the coming 2013 elections.

Close to being clueless to the report, Supt. Barot refused to confirm nor deny the existence of the armed groups but as to the three areas in the so-called election watch list, he said, they indeed were monitored in previous elections. Their existence now is yet to be validated as soon his intelligence men shall have briefed him of further developments of this report. Meanwhile, Supt. Barot hinted that after a long lull,” swuertres” operations starting in this city and neighboring towns are set to resume its illegal activities beginning Monday. The resumption of the illegal racket was monitored by Camp Dagohoy with Supt. Barot on top of the situation. Swuertres made a full stop after a directive from the Department of Interior and Local Government after it imposed the one-strike policy to chiefs f police in the towns who were caught to have allowed the operations of the illegal numbers game in their respective jurisdictions. The strict implementation of the one-strike policy led to the relief of four police chiefs in this city, Loay, Guindulman and Tubigon. As an apparent signal that lawmen have since lowered their guard to go after perpetrators, the return of the racket seemed imminent according to sources close to swuertres operators in this city.