ILOILO City – The Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO) is confronted with a “big challenge” in ensuring the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE) on Oct. 30 remain peaceful and orderly across 92 villages.
IPPO has flagged these barangays as election areas of concern, said IPPO spokesperson Major Rolando Araño.
“We have increased the deployment of police officers to these 92 villages. This is a big challenge for us. We appeal to the candidates and their supporters to make the elections peaceful,” said Araño.
Out of these 92 villages, two are under the “yellow” category, while the rest fall under “orange”.
Barangays in the yellow category have a track record of election-related incidents from previous elections, potential involvement of partisan armed groups, and instances of politically motivated election-related cases, which had been previously under the oversight of the Commission on Elections.
Meanwhile, the orange category pertains to areas that are flagged due to “serious armed threats.”
In a proactive move, the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) deployed 12,486 police personnel throughout Western Visayas from Monday, Oct. 23, with the assignment lasting until Oct. 31, the day following the elections.
Of this contingent, 7,163 officers have the specific task of ensuring the security of the 3,584 polling precincts./PN
