Thirty-six private armed groups from the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region are being monitored ahead of the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said.
In an interview, PNP Chief Gen. Benjamin Acorda Jr. bared that it is the reason why he frequented trips in the region for the past two months since he assumed his position.
“Most of these PAGs are in eight regions. Mostly in BARMM, this is where we are focusing on because in BARMM alone, we monitored 36 (PAGs),” Acorda said. “So our focus is intelligence-driven operations in guiding our regional offices to arrest all of them,” he added.
Acorda said that during his visits to BARMM, he met with various groups and stakeholders that could help PNP in securing peaceful and safe BSK elections in the region.
“The good news here is that all the peace groups that we would meet already gave us the commitment that they would assist to ensure the peaceful and orderly conduct of barangay and SK elections,” Acorda said.
Previously, the PNP reported that they are keeping tabs on 45 inactive PAGs and three active armed groups across the country.
PAGs were used to do violent activities to gain advantages or leverage against certain individuals.