27 Philippine election areas have terror attack risks
Some of these "red" areas are in Mindanao.
MANILA: The Philippine National Police (PNP) have designated 27 areas as having terror attack risks as part of preparations for the nationwide village and youth council elections on Oct 30, said a police official.
The PNP's classification places election areas in one of four categories: green, yellow, orange, and red with red being the most risky, said the PNP’s Operations Directorate chief, Brigadier General Leo Francisco, during a briefing in Manila on Thursday (Sept. 14) .
Election areas in the green category are those with no security concerns or are relatively peaceful and orderly.
Yellow-category areas have reported suspected election-related, non-terror-linked incidents in the last two polls.Â
Intense partisan political rivalry and the candidates' possible use of partisan armed groups are noted in these areas.
Areas in the orange category have two or more factors under the yellow category, or a serious risk posed by threat groups including the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and the Abu Sayyaf terror groups.
The red category refers to areas with one or more factors described under the yellow category and serious armed threats posed by local terrorist groups.
Francisco said at least 4,085 areas are in the yellow category while 232 are in the orange one.
Th official declined to identify the 27 areas in the red category, but said some of them are in Mindanao.Â
He also said the PNP have yet to finalise the list of risky election areas as they are still awaiting input from the Philippine Coast Guard and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.