PNP eyes adjusting parameters in identifying election areas of concern

The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Tuesday said it is considering modifying the mechanism in coming up with a list of election areas of concern “based on daily assessments”.

PNP spokesperson Police Colonel Jean Fajardo made the statement after some incidents of violence were reported in areas under the green category for the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE).

Green category means there are no security concerns or the area is relatively peaceful and orderly.

“Ito ay magsisilbing eye-opener sa ating mga security forces para mas lalo pa pong pagtuunan ng pansin (This will serve as an eye-opener for security forces to give more attention),” Fajardo said.

“Kung hindi papasok doon sa parameters ng color categorization ay kung maaari ba nila i-elevate based on their daily assessment partikular na rin po sa mga area na may intense political rivalry for purposes of security adjustment?”

(If the areas will not qualify in the parameters of color categorization, can we allow security forces to elevate these areas to higher categories based on daily assessment particularly in areas with political rivalry for the purposes of security adjustment?)

According to Fajardo, the parameters on the color categorization of election areas of concern are provided by the Commission on Elections.

Of the 35 validated incidents of violence confirmed to be related to the BSKE 2023, fifteen of them happened in areas under the green category, Fajardo said.

“Dito po sa 35 [incidents of violence] ay may naitala na 15 [na nasa green category]. At meron naman po tayong mga deployment diyan but we have to understand nag-focus po ang ating deployment sa mga red categories na barangay particularly the 362 [barangays],” she said.

(Of these 35 incidents, we recorded 15 that happened in green category areas. We have a deployment of personnel there but we have to understand that we focused our deployment on 362 red category barangays.)

Among the parameters considered in creating a list of election areas of concern are previous reports of violence during the last two preceding polls, presence of partisan and private armed groups, as well as threats.

Yellow areas may have intense partisan political rivalry and candidates possibly employing partisan armed groups. These areas also had been previously declared under Comelec control.

Orange areas exhibit two or more factors under the yellow category or there is a serious armed threat posed by local terrorist groups and other threat groups.

The red category refers to areas with one or more factors described under the yellow category and serious armed threats posed by local terrorist groups.

Comelec chairman George Garcia on Monday declared the 2023 BSKE  "a victory of sorts" even as he said no election had ever been perfect.

Garcia made the remark amid reports of election-related violence wherein at least three were killed in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, and thousands of teachers backing out of poll duty in the BARMM and in Abra.

“When you say generally peaceful, when you say incidents, we have to factor in the number of voters involved. We have 92 million registered voters. Of this number, how many are affected? We have 202,000 precincts," Garcia said at a news conference.

"Even if there were disruptions in 2,000 precincts, we would still have 200,000 precincts where voting proceeded as expected. There was only a small percentage where disruption occurred. To us, it is a victory of sorts,” he added. —KG, GMA Integrated News