The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Thursday said it recorded 28 election-related incidents from January 9 up to April 17.
PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said of the 28 election-related incidents (ERI), 21 have validated nothing really to do with the election while five were connected to an election that happened in Regions 1 (Ilocos Region), 3 (Central Luzon), 9 (Zamboanga Peninsula), 10 (Northern Mindanao) and Cordillera region, and two incidents still being investigated if they are election-related.
Fajardo said the PNP and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) have deployed their personnel to the said regions to ensure orderly and peaceful polls on May 9.
Meanwhile, PNP Directorate for Operations director Maj. Gen. Valeriano de Leon said the municipalities of Tubatan and Malabang in Lanao del Sur are now under the control of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) due to the reported threats weeks ago leading to the polls.
He said they already had a discussion with Comelec chairperson Saidamen Pangarungan on the matter.
“Meron, at ako ay nakipagpanayam sa ating chairman si Atty. Saidamen Pangarungan at kami ay baka mag-inspect doon (Yes, there are threats and I had talked with our chairman Atty. Saidamen Pangarungan and we might conduct an inspection there),” De Leon said.
The Special Action Force has been deployed in Tubaran and Malabang, he added.
The Comelec released the list of 114 areas considered as red areas, which is also based on the recommendation by the PNP.
The election hotspot list has 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 are areas of concern, which means that these have a history of election-related incidents in the last elections, possible employment of partisan armed groups, the occurrence of politically motivated election-related incidents and had been previously declared under Comelec control.
Orange, on the other hand, means areas of immediate concern where there is a serious armed threat; while Red means areas of grave concern, which exhibit combined factors under the Yellow category with serious armed threats that may warrant the motu proprio (on its own) declaration of Comelec control.
The Philippines is set to hold national and local elections on May 9 this year.
Source: Philippines News Agency
