Director General Oscar Albayalde, chief of the Philippine National Police, has ordered police intelligence units to intensify and expedite the assessment of hot spots in the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections next month.
As of the latest assessment, Albayalde said there are 7,544 election hot spots across the country and the security situation in these areas are being assessed by the police, military, and the Commission on Elections.
“But whenever we say hot spots, they are not necessarily dangerous places. These areas were categorized as election hot spots because of some violence that only include mauling incidents, not necessarily firefight,” said Albayalde.
The PNP is conducting a review of cases of violent incidents in the past elections, including the latest barangay elections in 2013 and the 2016 polls. (Aaron B. Recuenco)
