The Regional Joint Security Council in Central Visayas disclosed on Friday that from 41 barangays in the region, only 24 barangays are being classified as areas of concern ahead of the 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections.
This was also confirmed by Police Regional Office 7 spokesperson Police Lieutenant Colonel Gerard Ace Pelare.
“We know have six areas of concern and 18 election areas of immediate concern. Again, these areas of immediate concern, most of these barangays are in Negros Oriental and in Bohol due to the presence of communist-terrorist groups,” Pelara said.
He added that the other 17 barangays were already removed from the list based on the outcome of the RJSC’s threat assessment.
The RJSC composes the Commission on Election, Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippine National Police.
“Our threat assessment is always being updated. In our latest update, we had findings from intelligence units in the ground that there are no more threats,” Pelare said.
The 24 areas of concern include two barangays in Cebu province, one in Bohol, and four in Negros Oriental.
The campaign period for BSKE 2023 officially started on 19 October and will end until 28 October.
For Central Visayas, a total of 12,000 uniformed personnel will be deployed to ensure peace and order in the region in the elections. Of these, a total of 9,200 will come from the PNP while the rest will come from the AFP and the Philippine Coast Guard.