PNP identifies 105 towns, 15 cities as election red category areas

The Philippine National Police (PNP) has identified 105 towns and 15 cities as election "red" category areas for the upcoming May 9 elections.

Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo Año confirmed the list of these areas of concern.

PNP’s deputy chief for operations Ferdinand Divina stated that more focused deployment and operations will be enforced in these identified red areas.

The PNP has submitted the list of these areas to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for validation and official release.

Regional Special Operations Task Groups (RSOTGs) have been activated and deployed to these identified areas to support local police units in their preparations.

Areas designated as green are not expected to pose any problems, while yellow and orange category areas are under continuous monitoring.

The PNP is continuously monitoring security situations nationwide to determine if more areas need to be included in the hot spot list.