DAVAO CITY — The Philippine National Police on Monday revealed that 249 of the 357 barangays considered by the Commission on Elections as areas of grave concern during the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections are from communities under the Bangsamoro Autonomous Regional in Muslim Mindanao or BARMM.
In a press briefing in Camp Crame, PNP Spokesperson Col. Jean Pajardo announced that seventy percent (70%) of the communities are considered in red category is included in the lists of hot spot.
A hot spot area means it needs monitoring given the previous election-related violence that erupted in the area.
Given the situation, Fajardo said they will start deploying additional personnel in the coming days in Bangsamoro.
Under the color-coding scheme, code green would mean generally peaceful and orderly and no cause for concern; while yellow if the area has a history of election-related incidents in the last polls and had been previously declared under the control of the Comelec. Code orange, meanwhile, means areas of immediate concern where there is a serious armed threat.
Fajardo said 1,323 villages are under the orange category while 1,231 are under the yellow category.
According to Fajardo, of the 71 recorded incidents recorded as of October 9, 8 are validated election-related incidents and 18 are suspected election-related incidents.
