A CAGAYAN de Oro City police official on Thursday, February 21, said Cagayan de Oro has been removed from the list of areas under grave concern for the May elections and downgraded into a lesser classification.
Superintendent Mardy Hortillosa II, spokesperson of the Cagayan de Oro City Police Office (Cocpo), said the city is now classified as area of immediate concern which means two of the parameters for areas of grave concern are still present.
Areas considered as poll "hot spots" are classified into five: areas of no security concern (green); areas of concern (yellow), areas of immediate concern (orange); areas of grave concern (red); and areas controlled by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
Hortillosa said the parameters for an area to be listed under grave concern include presence of armed groups and terrorists, election-related incidents, intense political rivalry, and candidates or politicians involved in illegal drugs.
"Kung duha lang sa upat ka parameters sa red nga classification mosulod na sa orange code," Hortillosa said.
"Dili namo ma-question ang wisdom sa taas kay sila man nag set sa parameters pero based sa daan nga mga parameters dili gyud ta mosulod pero kay nausab man maong nakasulod ta," he added.
Hortillosa's counterpart in the regional headquarters, however, said the city can still be placed under code red if something happens before the elections.
"Naay possibility nga makabalik sa code red ang CDO kung naay mahitabo kay ga-move mani pirmi," Superintendent Surki Serenas said.
Serenas said they learned that the city was removed from the areas of grave concern after the Police Regional Office Northern Mindanao (PRO-10) submitted its manifestation to the national headquarters.
Serenas earlier said the regional command recommended 35 towns and cities to be placed as election "hot spot".
Out of 35, five were identified as areas of grave concern which he refused to name for "lack of clearance".
Serenas said the other 30 areas may be classified under other categories.
"Kanang 35 padayon ang validation ana. Lima ang gihatag sa ato nga areas of grave concern posible katong 30 i-classify to sa mas lesser nga classification," Serenas said.