PNP identifies 357 areas under grave concern for barangay polls
The Philippine National Police (PNP) has identified a total of 357 areas that falls under the Red Category for the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE), around 70 percent of them are located in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
Red Category is described as areas of grave concern while Orange Category is described as areas of immediate concern where there is a serious armed threat.
Based on the PNP data, a total of 1,323 areas are under the Orange Category.
On the other hand, PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said Yellow Category means areas of concern because of their history of election-related incidents in the last elections, possible employment of partisan armed groups, occurrence of politically motivated election-related cases and had been previously declared under Comelec (Commission on Elections) control.
Based on the PNP data, a total of 1,231 areas are under the Yellow Category.
But Fajardo said their figure will be finalized during the convening of the Joint National Security Control Center, which in turn, will submit its recommendation on the hotspot list to the Comelec en banc for final approval.
The election period for the BSKE started on Aug. 28 and will end Nov. 29.
Fajardo, meanwhile, said only eight out of a total of 71 incidents reported to the PNP have been validated as election related incidents (ERIs). Another 18 are under investigation while the rest were confirmed as non-ERIs, she added.
As part of the security measures, Fajardo said the PNP is implementing preemptive measures to ensure the peaceful and orderly conduct of the elections, including implementation of gun ban.
As of Sunday, Oct. 8, Fajardo said a total of 912 firearms have been confiscated at checkpoints while 1,208 persons were arrested since the start of the election gun ban on Aug. 28.