CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna, Philippines – The police in the Calabarzon region is starting to identify the areas of concern or hotspots for the May elections.
Senior Superintendents Eliseo Cruz, Bernabe Balba and Arcadio Ronquillo, police Directors of Cavite, Rizal and Batangas, respectively, told The STAR that no town has been considered yet as an election hotspot within their respective areas of jurisdiction.
To be considered a hotspot, a town must have an election-related incidence of violence in the 2007 and 2010 polls, and must have reported the presence of private armies, including the communist New People’s Army.
Cruz said they will submit their recommendations to the Commission on Elections as soon as they are done with the monitoring and evaluation of situations.
In 2013, at least 24 towns in the Calabarzon, which is comprised of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon, were declared as hotspots.