MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is eyeing around 300 areas of concern in the May elections.
Comelec Commissioner George Garcia said they have identified the areas but are validating them before making an announcement.
”Hindi ganun kadali mag-declare ng hot spot sa isang area. Kawawa ang negosyo, kawawa ang turismo,” he said.
Garcia said the Philippine National Police (PNP) and Armed Forces of the Philippines have submitted their recommendations, but the poll body wanted to ensure that the reports are verified by Comelec field personnel.
The PNP has adopted a color-coding scheme to identify poll hot spots – green for peaceful, yellow for areas of concern, orange for areas of immediate concern and red for areas of grave concern.
Areas under red category have a history of violent incidents, intense political rivalry and armed threats posed by local terrorist groups.
Areas in the yellow category have a history of election-related incidents in previous elections, intense political rivalry and being previously placed under Comelec control.
Those under orange category have a combination of two or more factors under yellow category aside from serious armed threat posed by rebel groups.
In the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), the PNP said 18 areas are being considered as election hot spots.
The Bangsamoro police recommended 10 towns in Maguindanao, a city and three towns in Lanao del Sur and four areas in Basilan to be
included in the red category or areas of grave concern.
“This is based on the assessment on the ground and historical data of previous elections,” PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said in a text message.
She said the recommendation of the BARMM police may still change “depending on the prevailing political landscape in the area.”