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Tuesday, October 30, 2007
4 die in barangay, SK elections
* Police say polls generally peaceful
MANILA -- Gunmen killed at least three candidates and a follower during the twin elections Monday across the Philippines, officials said.
National Police Chief Avelino Razon Jr. however said that except for some isolated incidents in some parts of the country, the synchronized barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections Monday were generally peaceful.
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The 120,000-strong Philippine police force was on full alert, deploying nearly two-thirds of its officers to guard against fraud and violence in the barangay and SK polls, which were contested by more than a million candidates.
The four killings raised the death toll in the country's latest rambunctious exercise in democracy to 25 over the month-long election season leading up to Monday's vote.
Less violent
But police officials said Monday's elections were less violent compared to the last grass roots elections in 2002, which left 75 people dead and 69 wounded in shootings and other attacks.
"The barangay elections of 2007 will probably go down in history as the most peaceful ever. At the rate we are proceeding, we can see a largely honest, orderly, and peaceful outcome of this election," Razon said.
Razon credited the peaceful elections to the vigilance of various stakeholders, including the Commission on Elections (Comelec), Philippine National Police (PNP), Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), non-government organizations, and other stakeholders.
“Until the close of polling hours at 3 p.m., the PNP recorded only seven election-related violent incidents. We however gave instructions to our unit commanders, regional directors to continue maintaining their alert level, as we enter the more critical phase -- the counting of votes,” he said.
Overall, Razon said, the PNP has recorded 48 election-related violent incidents since the election period began last September 29 as against the 2002 elections where there were 159 election-related violent incidents.
Four deaths
Two candidates were shot to death by suspected communist New People's Army (NPA) guerrillas in Silvino Lobos town in central Samar province shortly before polling started, forcing authorities to cancel the balloting in four villages because frightened voters failed to show up, he said.
Another candidate and his follower were fatally shot by men in a school on southern Basilan island. One of the attackers, who was armed with an M16 rifle, was arrested, police said.
Before Monday, at least 21 people had been killed in poll-linked attacks in the month-long elections season, according to Razon.
He added that an investigation into the killings was under way.
Voting suspended
Voting was suspended in several villages in southern Mindanao region, including on remote Jolo island, where election officials failed to show up fearing violence, officials said.
Jolo is a stronghold of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group and political warlords. Voting was also delayed because of a school fire in Nueva Ecija province, north of Manila, and flooding and landslides in the Bicol region southeast of the capital, elections officials said.
The candidates were vying for nearly 672,000 grass roots posts in 42,000 villages to oversee a range of issues, from garbage collection and youth affairs to weeding out suspected insurgents in their neighborhoods.
Meanwhile, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo lined up to vote in her hometown in Pampanga province, north of Manila, waving and smiling to a small crowd.
Arroyo arrived at the Lubao Elementary School at 9:25 a.m. and was accompanied by her godson, Lubao Mayor Dennis Pineda, who is also president of the Pampanga Mayors League (PML). She was greeted by six other mayors.
The President immediately went inside Precinct No. 1-A where she waited in line for about 15 minutes before receiving her ballot. She was voter number 86 in the computerized voters’ list and number 9 in line.
It took Arroyo only three minutes to fill up her ballot, after which she folded it up and had her picture taken while dropping it in the ballot box.
After having her finger marked with indelible ink, the President boarded her car and went to the Clark Freeport Zone to catch a flight to Dumaguete City where she attended the International Conference on the Integrated Taxation System (iTax) at the Negros Oriental Convention Center.
Arroyo’s ousted predecessor, Joseph Estrada, whom she pardoned last week after his plunder conviction, voted in a suburban Manila school for the first time since regaining his freedom. Crowds of fans mobbed the former action movie star, yelling his name and jostling to embrace him.
Razon said troops helped police secure the balloting in about 4,500 villages considered security hotspots because of the presence of communist or Muslim guerrillas, or a history of intense political rivalries.
During campaigning, about 325 people were arrested and 284 firearms were seized by policemen imposing a gun ban, police said. (AP/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Cebu. (October 30, 2007 issue)
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