172 ‘election hotspots’ identified in Region 6

By Jennifer P. Rendon

The Regional Joint Security Coordinating Center (RJSCC) 6 has identified 172 barangays in Region 6 as election areas of concern or commonly known as election hotspots.

The number is higher than the 129 barangays tagged as hotspots in the May 2018 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec)-led RJSCC approved the number during a command conference on Thursday, September 21, at the Police Regional Office (PRO) 6 in Camp Delgado, Iloilo City.

Atty. Dennis Ausan, Comelec-6 regional director, said they adopted the recommendation of the six province JSCCs, insofar as election areas of concern are concerned.

Out of the watch-listed 172 barangays, six are in the “Yellow” category (election areas of concern), 163 in the “Orange” category (election areas of immediate concern), and 3 in the “Red” category (election areas of grave concern).

Iloilo, to include Iloilo City, has the most number of election areas of concern with 93 while Negros Occidental, to include Bacolod City, has 51; Capiz with 14; Antique with 12; and Aklan with two.

Guimaras does not have a hotspot.

There are 3,879 barangays in Western Visayas that are not considered as election areas of concern.

Areas placed under the yellow category are those that have:

-Occurrence of suspected election-related incident (ERI) in the last two elections provided there was no participation of domestic terror groups;

-Existence of intense partisan political rivalry with no participation of domestic terror groups;

-Possible employment of partisan armed groups by the candidates in the area;

-Occurrence of politically motivated ERI in the current election period provided there is no participation of domestic terror groups; or

-The area has been previously placed under Comelec Control.

Those in the “Orange” category have:

-Combination of two or more factors under Category Yellow; or

-There is a serious armed threat posed by the New People’s Army (NPA), Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) and rogue elements of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and/or Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and other analogous groups.

Meanwhile, those in the “Red” category have:

-The existence of one (1) or more factors described under Category YELLOW, together with serious armed threats posed by the New People’s Army (NPA), Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) and rogue elements of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and/or Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and other analogous groups under Category ORANGE.

-The Category RED classification may warrant the motu-proprio declaration of COMELEC Control

All three barangays under the “Red” category are in Negros Occidental.

The list may change as the Election Day nears, the RJSCC said.