Lt Col. Ezara Balagtey, spokesperson of the Eastern Mindanao Command, and Police Major Jason Baria, allay fears on the Comelec's declaration of Mindanao as election hotspot under Category Red during the AFP-PNP press briefing on Wednesday in Davao Cityl. (PNA photo by Lilian Mellejor)
DAVAO CITY – The Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom) and the Police Regional Office-11 (PRO-11) on Wednesday said the Commission on Elections (Comelec) declaration of Mindanao as election hotspot should not alarm the public.
Lt. Col. Ezra Balagtey, Eastmincom spokesperson, noted that Mindanao remains under martial law where tighter security measures are in place.
“He said people should even feel more secure. This is still in line with the declaration of martial law,” Balagtey said during Wednesday’s AFP-PNP press briefing at the Royal Mandaya Hotel here.
Balagtey said that Eastmincom has yet to receive the Comelec guidelines relating to Mindanao's designation as an election hotspot.
Police Major Jason Baria, PRO-11 spokesperson, said placing Mindanao under Category Red may have been based on the government's thorough assessment.
Baria said PRO-11 has already designated specific areas under the Comelec's election watchlist to guide them in deploying personnel.
Baria said that security forces and the local Comelec officials are also closely coordinating through the Joint Security Committee on matters relating to security.
On Tuesday, the Comelec has declared the entire Mindanao under Category Red for the May 2019 midterm election.
This means that places under Category Red have records of politically-motivated violent incidents that may occur during the elections due to the intense political rivalry and have serious armed threats posed by organized threat groups such as the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA), the Bangsamoro Independent Freedom Fighters (BIFF), the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), and others.
In the PRO-11 EWAS list, Baria said there are 823 barangays in Davao Region placed under Category Green; 233 under Category Yellow; 86 under Category Orange, and 13 under Category Red.
The 13 areas under Category Red are all in the province of Davao del Sur, which also has the most areas under Category Orange.
Areas under Category Yellow are: 132 in Davao del Sur; 37 in Davao del Norte; 18 in Davao Oriental; and seven in Davao Occidental.
The election watch list areas are classified under four categories: Areas placed under Category 1 are those that have records of politically-motivated violent incidents that may occur during the elections due to the intense political rivalry;
Areas under Category 2 have serious armed threats posed by organized threat groups like the CPP-NPA, BIFF, and the ASG.
Areas falling under Category 3 are areas where the threats under category 1 and 2 are present, while Category 4 are areas affected by political rivalry that could motivate people to engage in violence, violence may be facilitated by the employment of private armed groups, loose firearms fall into the hands of unqualified individuals, serious armed threats by the CPP-NPA, BIFF, ASG and other armed groups;
Areas under Category 4 are placed under the immediate and direct control and supervision of Comelec.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1065146
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