Over 4,000 villages declared election hotspots

By Lira Dalangin-Fernandez INQUIRER.net MANILA, Philippines--The Philippine National Police (PNP) has identified at least 4,511 villages throughout the country as hotspots for the upcoming October elections, PNP Chief Avelino Razon Jr. said Tuesday. At the same time, Razon said the PNP will work with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to ensure that the barangay (village) and Sangguniang Kabataan (youth council) polls will not be disrupted by threat groups like the communist rebels, terrorist groups and private armies of some politicians. Razon presented a report on the October 29 elections to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo during Tuesday's meeting of the National Security Council in Malacañang. He said he will submit the same report to the Commission on Election Wednesday. The villages considered as election hotspots are mostly in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, the Cordillera region, and Regions 2 and 9. AFP chief of staff General Hermogenes Esperon said government forces will strictly monitor threat groups to prevent them from sowing violence during the polls. He said that for the first semester of this year, the military has neutralized 966 New People's Army rebels and 70 members of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group. Esperon said the NPA's strength has been reduced to 621 from 716 at the end of 2006, and the Abu Sayyaf from 452 to 380.