No particular place in the country has been declared to be an area of concern in relation to the incoming 2022 National and Local Elections, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said on Thursday, Feb. 3.
Comelec spokesman James Jimenez made the statement following a report from GMA News that the poll body has declared Basilan to be a "hotly contested" area.
"Hotly contested, is not really our language. No, we don't normally say hotly contested. We say area of concern, or we say area of immediate concern, or we say that an area is under Comelec control," he said.
"Hotly contested seems to be a characterization of the political landscape there rather than a description of the security situation. The security situation is what we refer to when we're talking about areas of concern," he added.
According to Jimenez, normally, the declaration of areas of concern is done by the security committee in Manila. The process is that the local police will coordinate with the local Comelec and two of them will come to an agreement on what they will recommend to the national committee.
The national committee will then release the final list of areas of concern.
Jimenez said that it's possible that the local Comelec inBasilan will be recommending that the area be declared an area of concern, possibly in coordination with the local police and the armed forces.
He added that according to the Comelec's law department they will have their first security meeting on Friday where the matter is set to be discussed.