Task force monitors politicians who might have private armies as Eleksyon 2022 nears

The National Task Force on the Disbandment of Private Armed Groups (NTF-DPAGs) on Friday said that it was monitoring several politicians who might have private armed groups amid the coming 2022 elections.

In a press conference, Directorate for Integrated Police Operations-Western Mindanao Police Lieutenant General Jose Chiquito Malayo refused to give the number of politicians nor would he identify them.

“We cannot disclose ‘yung mga pangalan ng (the names of) politicians but we have statistics and we are continuously monitoring these groups,” he said.

As of Friday, Malayo said that there were five remaining validated private armed groups in the country—three in Bangsamoro and two in Soccsksargen.

The three private armed groups in Bangsamoro have 183 members with 148 firearms, while the two in Soccsksargen have 14 members with 36 firearms.

Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año said the task force was monitoring 125 potential armed groups, which still needed to be validated by the task group on intelligence.

According to Año, they would update developments on private armed groups in the country after their assessment in December.

In June 2019, the Philippine National Police recorded a total of 60 election-related violent incidents connected with the May 2019 midterm polls.

This number was much lower compared to the 133 incidents reported during the 2016 national polls.

The PNP attributed the over 50% decrease in the total number of violent incidents to the police organization's early preparations. — DVM, GMA News