ABOUT 249 villages nationwide out of the 2,603 where election-related violence may occur were listed as “areas of grave concern” ahead of the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE), the Philippine National Police (PNP) said on Saturday.

Of the total, 1,344 barangay (villages) have been classified under the orange category, while 1,010 are under the yellow category.

The PNP clarified, however, that the list submitted by the Directorate for Intelligence is not yet final, as this is “constantly changing.”

There are four categories in the election hotspot list: green, yellow, orange and red.

The areas that have been placed under the red category have had “histories of election-related incidents, intense political rivalries and the presence of partisan armed groups.” These areas are placed under the control of the Comelec, the lead

agency during elections.

Meanwhile, areas that have been included in the orange category are those that have been determined to have “serious armed threats.”

Areas under the yellow catM egory are those that have a “history of election-related inciM dents in the last elections, posM sible employment of partisan armed groups, and the occurM rence of politically motivated election-related cases that had been previously declared under the control of the Commission on Elections.

Areas under the green category are those that “do not have security concerns and are generally peaceM ful and orderly.”

The list will be finalized once the PNP has met with their counM terparts in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to reconcile their respective figures.

So far, four election-related inciM dents have been recorded.

Two of these occurred in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, one in Calabarzon (Cavite, LaM guna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) and one in the Bicol Region.

WIth just over a month before the elections, PNP chief Gen.

Benjamin Acorda Jr. said they were about 70 percent ready with their security preparations.

“We have provided all the guidance for the measures,” Acorda said, adding that the challenges they are looking into are more on the local level, speM cifically the volatile conditions in some areas.

“These are the things we are closely watching, and what we reM ally want is effective monitoring,” he said.