The Police Regional Office (PRO) 11 already has come out with a list of the election hotspots but this is subject for validation.
“We are still identifying and validating these areas by our intelligence personnel for us to deploy our men needed in these areas,” Senior Supt. Noli Bathan, deputy regional director for administration of PRO 11, said during the weekly AFP-PNP Southern Mindanao press conference at The Royal Mandaya Hotel on Wednesday.
Bathan said that they are looking at areas that have a history of election-related shooting and other forms of violent incidents in 2016.
“We are looking into Mati City, Davao Oriental; Mabini, Compostela Valley Province and Bansalan, Davao del Sur,” he said.
He said that once the police already has the validated areas, it will increase the deployment of personnel in these locations and will launch operations such as conduct of checkpoint, application of search warrant if needed.
“We need to identify personalities behind past election-related violent incidents, and validate if there are private armies of politicians involved. Our intelligence efforts is 24/7,” he said.
Senior Inspector Maria Teresita Gaspan, spokesperson of Davao City Police Office (DCPO), said that the DCPO is also considering the previous barangay election hotspots watch list in the city.
However, the police still has to coordinate with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) whether these areas will still be included in the midterm election hotspots watch list.
She said that the DCPO will wait for the conference with the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) because the list that DCPO and AFP will submit is still subject for the approval of the COMELEC.
