ILOILO CITY – An initial list of 17 areas with election-related concerns in the upcoming elections have been identified in Western Visayas region.
DENNIS Ausan (center), head of the Commission on Elections-6, with other members of the Western Visayas Regional Joint Peace and Security Coordinating Center in Iloilo City. (Tara Yap)
“This is only an initial list. This is not yet final,” Dennis Ausan, Western Visayas regional director of the Commission on Elections, said.
These areas were classified into red, orange, yellow, and green, with red having the highest risk for election-related violence.
The town of Calinog in Iloilo province is so far the lone area to be classified under the red category in Western Visayas.
Reinier Layson, Comelec-Iloilo head, said an election-related incident was recorded in Calinog during the October 2023 barangay elections and encounters between the Philippine Army and the New People’s Army still occur in the town’s mountain barangays.
Nine barangays in Western Visayas were initially identified in the orange category.
Five are in Iloilo province, in the towns of Badiangan, Janiuay, Leon, Maasin, and San Joaquin.
The province of Negros Occidental has three, in Calatrava and Cauayan towns, and Sipalay City, and the town of Tapaz in Capiz province.
In the yellow category, seven towns were identified – Ajuy, Lemery, and San Dionisio in Iloilo province; Isabela and San Enrique in Negros Occidental province, Tobias Fornier in Antique province, and President Roxas in Capiz province.
Ausan said on Saturday, Jan. 18, that the Regional Joint Peace and Security Coordinating Center (RJPSCC-6) will release the official list by the end of March or early April.