The Philippine National Police on Thursday revealed that at least 22 incidents were validated as election related out of the 121 reports logged ahead of the 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections on 30 October.

PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo in a radio interview said that while only 22 incidents were confirmed as election-related, they are not complacent and certainly not ignoring all the reports that they are receiving.

"In the areas where we have recorded incidents, we have strengthened our checkpoint operations even more and focused police and military operation are ongoing to make sure that there will be no more confirmed election-related incidents," Fajardo said.

She added that of the 22 confirmed incidents, nine have already filed to the prosecutor's office, one has been filed in court and 11 are still under ongoing investigation although have identified the suspects were some arrested while others remain at large.

Fajardo said as of 24 October, there were 28 incidents that are still under investigation while the rest were confirmed as non-ERIs.

Despite the recorded 22 validated ERIs, Fajardo said that that it was 45 percent down compared to BSKE 2018 where 40 validated ERIs were recorded.

"These data will not be the only basis for us to adjust the security deployment effective yesterday more or less 795 PNP personnel has augmented that we will increase in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region to make sure will maintain peace and security in that area to have a peaceful and safe election," Fajardo said.