Election in western, central Mindanao peaceful

THE military on Tuesday, May 14, announced that the mid-term elections was generally peaceful despite some election-related incidents.

Lieutenant General Arnel Dela Vega, Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom) chief, said the “few election-related incidents reported” were considered isolated cases.

Among the poll-related incidents was the election eve ambush of three people, including a candidate for municipal councilor and a village official, in the province of Zamboanga del Sur.

They escape unscathed in the incident that happened around 6:30 p.m. Sunday at Purok Tula Tula in the village of Tarakan, Dinas, Zamboanga del Sur.

The other reported incident was the election eve shootout that resulted in the death of a political supporter while seven others, including a mayoralty aspirant, were wounded at Sitio Sibuan, Barangay Tubod, Lakewood, Zamboanga del Sur.

The Wesmincom and the police have conducted random checkpoints, road security, mobile and foot patrol, to ensure a peaceful and orderly conduct of the mid-term elections on Monday.

The Wesmincom also provided security assistance to the personnel of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) personnel as well as to the transport of poll paraphernalia.

Dela Vega has commended all Joint Task Forces for fulfilling their mandates of maintaining the peace and orderliness of the 2019 mid-term elections.

“I would like to ascribe the success of the election process to other line agencies such as the PNP (Philippine National Police) and Comelec,” Dela Vega added. (SunStar Philippines)