28 cities, towns tagged as ‘hot spots’ in Calabarzon

SAN PEDRO CITY, Laguna, Philippines — The Philippine National Police has identified 28 towns and cities in Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon (Calabarzon) as election “hot spots.”

On Monday, the PNP will also begin deploying administrative personnel to augment ground forces that will secure the May 13 midterm elections.

The regional office will “send off” its troops to Batangas and Cavite provinces “where [we] saw the need” for additional forces, said the regional police spokesperson, Lt. Col. Chitadel Gaoiran.

Comelec-approved

The list of “hot spots” or areas of concern was drawn up based on political violence, intense rivalries, presence of armed groups and threats from Communist insurgents.

The list was approved by the Commission on Elections (Comelec), Gaoiran told the Inquirer by phone on Sunday.

Based on the list, Batangas has the most number of ‘hot spots’ with nine (Tanauan City, Laurel, Mataas na Kahoy, Nasugbu, Bauan, Lipa City, Mabini, San Jose and Taysan), followed by Quezon with eight (General Nakar, Mauban, Mulanay, Burdeos, Panukulan, Real, Catanauan and Lucban).

Cavite has four (Maragondon, Trece Martires City, Imus City and Rosario), while in Rizal has four (Baras, Antipolo City, Rodriguez and San Mateo.

There are three in Laguna — San Pablo City, Cavinti and Calauan.

Category ‘red’

Only General Nakar town is placed under category “red,” the highest of the three levels which PNP defines as requiring the most attention from the authorities.

Gaoiran said this is because of the strong presence of the New People’s Army in the town that may affect the local election.

There is little difference between categories “orange” and “yellow” but for the varying degrees of political rivalries, attacks believed to be carried out by political armed groups, and election-related violence.

Among the poll-related incidents last year were the assassination of Tanauan City Mayor Antonio Halili on July 2 and the ambush of Trece Martires City Vice Mayor Alexander Lubigan on July 7.

Halili’s daughter, Mary Angeline, is running in place of her father, while Lubigan’s widow, Gemma, took over her husband’s mayoral bid in Trece Martires City.