PNP: Almost 3,000 barangays flagged as security concerns for 2023 BSKE

Composite image of PNP logo and voters

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) considers almost 3,000 barangays as areas with security concerns as preparations for the 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections on October 30 continue.

PNP on Friday said 361 of these communities are under the red category – the highest alert level among all places.

On the other hand, 1,252 barangays are under the orange category.

Places in this category have serious threats from local armed groups or communist terrorist groups.

As many as 1,210 areas are listed in the yellow category.

The yellow category indicates the sites have records of election-related incidents (ERI).

The Philippines has a total of 42,001 barangays.

Meanwhile, the PNP recorded 135 violent occurrences from August 28 to October 26.

26 of these events are related to the elections.

The figure showed a slight increase from the 23 ERIs recorded on Wednesday.

Details about the three new incidents were not yet disclosed, but the first 23 ERIs came from the following regions:

Two in Ilocos Region

One in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon)

Two in Bicol

Two in Central Visayas

Three in Eastern Visayas

One in Zamboanga Peninsula

Three in Northern Mindanao

Four in Cordillera Administrative Region

Five in Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao

Aside from these data, PNP said 24 more incidents are suspected to be poll-related.