ILOILO – Eighty-eight barangays in this province are in the “election watch list” of the Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO).
Senior Superintendent Marlon Tayaba, IPPO director, directed the police chiefs of the municipalities where these villages belong to tighten their security measures as the May 14 synchronized barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections draw near.
The IPPO further classified the 88 barangays into three categories – 1, 2 and 3.
Category 1 villages are those with a history of election-related violent incidents and with intense political rivalries.
Category 2 villages are those with internal security (insurgency) problems.
Category 3 villages are those having the concerns present in both categories 1 and 2.
The town of Calinog in the 3rd District has the most number of “election watch list areas” – 26 barangays.
Tayaba said the IPPO would be deploying more policemen in the 88 barangays.
The election period started on April 14 and with it the imposition of the gun ban.
Tayaba said there would be checkpoints in the 88 barangays and the campaign against loose firearms intensified.
He did not discount the possibility that more barangays would be included in the IPPO’s election watch list.
Iloilo province has a total of 1,721 barangays scattered in 42 municipalities and one component city (Passi).
The campaign is from May 4 to May 12.
The election period ends on May 21 or a week after the May 14 barangay and SK elections./PN
