DILG: 2022 elections with fewer poll hotspots

 

MANILA, Philippines — The number of election hotspots in the upcoming May 9 elections is lesser than those identified during the 2019 midterm elections, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said on Monday.

DILG spokesman Jonathan Malaya said the are some 300 identified election hotspots including 125 red areas for this year’s elections.

This is a marked decrease from 946 hotspots, including 546 red areas of concern, recorded in the 2019 elections.

“Mas mababa ngayong election ito ang ating election hotspots. It is really an improvement in the peace and order situation,” Malaya said in a Laging Handa briefing.

(The number of election hotspots is lower.)

Malaya said that the DILG’s basis for identifying a red area of concern is its history of election-related violence, the presence of private armed groups and communist rebels, and monitored heated election contests.

“Based sa report ng PNP and kami naman, pag PNP ang nag report, we immediately give credibility to that report. Yan ay pinasa natin kaagad sa Comelec para sila naman agad ‘yung gagawa ng secondary validation,” he said.

(We give credibility to the PNP’s report and we refer the report to the Comelec so that they will be the ones to conduct secondary validation.)

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