THE Philippine National Police (PNP) is monitoring at least five inactive private armed groups in Western Visayas that could resurge and undermine the peaceful holding of next year’s mid-term election in the region.

Chief Supt. Agrimero Cruz Jr., police director in Western Visayas said that these five private armed groups still remain in their watchlist and are tightly being monitored by their intelligence unit.

Senior Supt. Manuel Felix, deputy director for administration of Western Visayas police, said that they are not discounting possibilities that these groups could become active in the coming election.

“Sinubaybayan ng ating mga intelligence operatives ang mga grupong ito dahil baka gagamitin ulit sila ng iilang politiko sa darating na halalan [Our intelligence operatives are keeping tabs on these groups because they might be used anew by a few politicians in the forthcoming polls],” Felix said in a statement.

Felix added that these private armed groups can only be delisted if their leaders or majority of their members have been neutralized in police operations.

Earlier, the Western Visayas police has bared that it has listed in its ‘election watchlist’ about 315 villages across the region, where violence could likely erupt during next year’s mid-term election.

Felix said that there are 89 villages classified as category 1 status or election areas of concern and 226 are listed as election areas of immediate concerns.

Felix said that the recent assessment has resulted in the increase of numbers in the election watchlist as compared to previous elections and said that the figure might increase depending on the situation.

The villages listed in the watchlist were from Negros Occidental province,126; Capiz province, 77; Iloilo province, 75; Antique, 17; Aklan province and Iloilo City , nine each; and Bacolod City, two, while no hotspot were recorded in Guimaras province.