The number of villages under the red category in the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) list of areas of concern for the October 30 village and youth council polls has increased.

In an updated list dated October 20, there are now 361 villages in the red category, from 242 last month.

The additional 119 come from the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

In Region 8, three more villages were moved to the red category while two more in Region 5.

Four were removed from the red category in Region 2 and one in region 9.

Comelec spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco previously explained the considerations in determining what the classification of a village is.

“Kino-consider ‘yung occurrence of suspected election related incidents, intense political rivalry, possible employment of partisan or private armed groups, occurrence of politically motivated election related incidents,” Laudiangco said.

“Tumataas ang category mula sa generally peaceful na green, paangat sa yellow, orange hanggang sa pinakamataas na concern na red kung saan halos lahat ng factors na nabanggit ay kasama," he added.

Being in the red category does not automatically put a village under COMELEC control. The poll body will still have to assess the situation.

In the National Capital Region, Barangay Bagong Silangan was downgraded to green, which means all 1,710 villages in the region are generally peaceful.

There are 42,001 villages in the Philippines, majority or 39,170 are under the green category.