MANILA, Philippines ? The Philippine National Police announced the addition of more provinces to the list of election ?hotspots,? bringing to 14 the number of areas where violence was most likely to occur during the polls.

PNP Director General Jesus Verzosa also said that a total of 558 cities and municipalities were being monitored by authorities for the same reason as elections drew near.

The new election ?hotspots? were Lanao del Norte, Sarangani, Zamboanga Sibugay, Antique, and Eastern Samar.

The PNP named the provinces of Abra, Nueva Ecija, Masbate, Maguindanao, Sulu Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Western Samar, and Ilocos Norte as election ?hotspots,? where election-related violent incidents tend to rise in these areas during the polls.

Of the 558 cities and municipalities being closely watched by authorities, Verzosa said that 118 belonged to the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Verzosa said that one of the parameters used in identifying election areas of concern included intense political rivalry.

?If there is intense political rivalry especially in areas where there are existing political dynasties that are involved in election violence, then we are closely looking at these areas,? he added.

Also being considered is the presence of threat groups, such as the New People?s Army, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, and the Abu Sayyaf group.

?These are the categories we consider in the election watch list of areas and what are we doing? We have to infuse in those areas additional personnel, additional logistics, at pagtutuunan natin ng pansin at magcoconduct tayo ng [and we will focus and set up] more checkpoints, more application of search warrants, more targeting of wanted persons of which we believe are members of partisan armed groups. So this is a web of operations,? Verzosa said.