LINGAYEN, Pangasinan (PNA) – A total of 61 barangays in the Ilocos region have been tagged under the yellow category of areas of concern ahead of the October 30 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE).

POLICE are assessing the situation in 61 barangays tagged as areas of concern in the Ilocos region in the barangay elections on October 30.  (PRO-1 FB)

Police Regional Office (PRO)-1 (Ilocos) Director Police Brig. Gen. John Chua, in a press conference on Tuesday, October 17, said they are assessing the situation in these barangays daily.

“Based on historical data, the 61 barangays had incidents in the previous elections, hence these were placed under yellow category,” Chua said.

The areas of concern classification have four categories: Green, yellow, orange, and red.

Green refers to areas that do not have security concerns and are generally peaceful and orderly, while yellow pertains to areas with a history of election-related incidents in past elections, as well as the possible employment of partisan armed groups, the occurrence of politically motivated election-related incidents, and had been previously declared under Commission on Elections control.

Areas under the orange category are those with serious armed threats, while those under the red category are areas of grave concern as these exhibit combined factors under the yellow and orange categories and may warrant a motu proprio (on its own) declaration of Comelec control.

Chua said they have deployed additional personnel in the 61 areas of concern to prevent any incidents that might emerge or escalate.

He, however, clarified that these areas account for only a small portion of the 3,267 barangays of the region’s four provinces.

In a separate interview, Pangasinan police director, Police Col. Jeff Fanged, said four of the 61 barangays that are considered areas of concern are from the province, specifically from the towns of Mangatarem, San Quintin, Burgos, and Malasiqui.

He said the barangay from Malasiqui was added to the list although its inclusion would be formalized during the Joint Peace and Security Coordinating Committee meeting of the province next week.

“Mas maganda na i-consider na area of concern (kasi) at least ma-concentrate (ang) deployment at mas mabantayan. Kahit di pa formally na-isama ay naglagay na (ng) additional deployment mula sa Provincial Mobile Force Battalion (It is better to already consider these as areas of concern so we can concentrate on the deployment and monitoring. Although, it was not yet formally included in the list, we have already placed additional deployment from the Provincial Mobile Force Battalion),” he said.

Fanged said more than 2,500 police personnel are currently deployed across the province for checkpoints and monitoring, among others.

“Gusto ko lang ipaalala sa ating mga kababayan na kapag maraming nakikitang police ay hindi ibig sabihin na talagang magulo na but we are just preventing (any untoward incident) lalo (na’t may) intense political rivalry. And mas maganda na prepared tayo (I just want to remind our fellow citizens that the presence of police officers does not mean there is chaos, but we are just preventing any untoward incident, especially because there is intense political rivalry. It is better for us to be prepared),” he added.

PRO-1 has already confiscated 27 firearms while 272 were deposited for safekeeping. A total of 30 individuals have also been arrested from August 28 to October 12 for violating the election gun ban.