A total of 51 cities and municipalities in Central Luzon have been identified as election hotspots for the May 9 national and local polls, the Police Regional Office 3 (PRO-3) said on Wednesday.
Brig. General Matthew Baccay, regional director of PRO-3, said the election hotspots were categorized and color-coded based on a set of parameters.
Of the total 116 municipalities and 14 cities in the region, there are 29 towns and five cities classified as election areas of concern or under the yellow category, while 14 towns and three cities are election areas of immediate concern or under the orange category.
Baccay said those areas under the yellow and orange categories have intense political rivalry, a history of election-related incidents in the last two polls, and the presence of armed men such as gun-for-hire and New People’s Army (NPA) communist terrorist groups.
On the other hand, there are 73 towns and six cities in the region that are classified as election areas of no security concern or under the green category.
“We have zero areas with grave concern here in Central Luzon because of the success of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in our anti-insurgency campaign. Very limited na ang influence (the influence) or even the presence and number of armed men or the components of the NPA in our areas of responsibilities in Central Luzon,” Baccay said during their “Leaders in Focus: 2022 National and Local Elections” meeting.
He assured the public that the classification of 51 areas as election hotspots should not be a cause of concern.
“In general, the current political situation in Central Luzon is peaceful and manageable. We have conducted pre-election interventions and activities based on the PNP timeline of activities which made our environment more conducive to live in as all forms of crime incidents significantly reduced,” Baccay said.
He added that they will continue to conduct more intel-driven operations against potential private armed groups (PAGs) and other forms of criminality in order to achieve secured, accurate, free, and fair elections.
Source: Philippines News Agency