THE PNP yesterday said it has yet to record any election-related violent incident since the start of the election period last month.
PNP spokesman Col. Jean Fajardo said three incidents in Mindanao earlier reported to be related to the May elections were found not related to the conduct of the polls.
“As of now, we have yet to record any since the start of the election period,” Fajardo said in a radio interview.
The election period begun last January 9, with the campaign period for national candidates starting last Tuesday. The start of the campaign period for local candidates is on March 25.
“There were at least three incidents that occurred in Mindanao but our investigators validated that they are not election-related incidents. We have yet to record any election-related incident,” Fajardo said, adding the police force will remain vigilant, especially in areas where there is intense political rivalry between candidates.
She said the police and the military are on the lookout for private armed groups that may be utilized by erring candidates.
Fajardo declined to say the number of election watchlist areas or election hotspots, saying the list should come from the Commission on Elections.
“We already submitted it the Comelec, the areas, including the number. It’s only the Comelec that’s authorized to release the official list. They have the discretion or authority to release these areas,” she said.
Meanwhile, 16 more Comelec gun ban violators were arrested by the police, bringing to 921 the number of arrests made since authorities began implementing the gun ban last January 9. The 921 included eight policemen and five soldiers.
A total of 723 assorted firearms, 4,563 ammunition, 55 explosives, and 259 bladed weapons were also seized.
The top five regions with the most number of arrested gun ban violators are National Capital Region (290), Central Visayas (117), Central Luzon (116), Calabarzon (87) and Western Visayas (50).
