Map of Lanao del Sur. INQUIRER.net
MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur, Philippines — The Philippine Army is beefing up its forces in Lanao del Sur province for the May 9 national and local elections, focusing particularly on the security of seven towns.
The situation in the province is “manageable,” according to Brig. Gen. Jose Maria Cuerpo II, commander of the Army’s 103rd Infantry Brigade. Cuerpo said they had not seen any violence that could happen during the election.
But he said the leadership of the 1st Infantry Division has decided to send a company of soldiers ahead of the polls.
The Army is particularly monitoring Pualas, Bayang, and Binidayan because of intense political rivalry in those towns.
It is also monitoring Maguing town because of the recent armed encounter between government forces and Islamic State-linked gunmen there and Tubaran town because it is where local terrorist leader Owayda Benito Marohombsar, or Abu Dar, was killed in a military operation.
Marohombsar was at one time the emir of the Daulah Islamiyah group in Lanao del Sur.
Cuerpo said the local posts were not being hotly contested in Butig town, but they are monitoring events there as it is where the IS-linked Maute group was based.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) had declared Malabang and Tubaran towns under its direct control and supervision because of their potential for violence. This prompted the Philippine National Police to deploy Special Action Forces troops in the two towns.
According to lawyer Mohaimen Ali, Tubaran election officer, there is intense rivalry among local politicians in the town.
In Pikit town in Cotabato province, the Comelec has ordered the provincial police to deploy personnel to administer the balloting in Barangay Talitay after six teachers assigned in two clustered precincts there backed out of their duties due to security risks.
The potential for violence stems from a family feud, said Tarhata Enged, Pikit election officer. The village has more than 1,000 registered voters.
Enged said the police officers were allowed to bring their service firearms while manning the two voting centers in Talitay.
In Maguindanao province, police are still investigating whether the twin blasts on April 18 at a roadside in Upi town were intended for the vehicle convoy of Maguindanao Gov. Bai Mariam Mangudadatu.
According to Capt. Fayeed Cana, spokesperson of the Maguindanao Provincial Police Office, the blasts occurred at past 5 p.m. while the convoy of Mangudadatu was passing through en route to South Upi town. One supporter, identified as Abdulraof Usman, was slightly injured.
Nor-Eimman Balayman-Dalaten, a staff member of Mangudadatu, said a brief exchange of gunfire also followed after the blast when police escorts noticed gunmen along the elevated portion of the highway.
Dalaten said the two improvised bombs were hung on a steel barrier beside the highway and set off as the convoy was passing by.
“It involves candidates so it could be election-related, but a regional police committee will officially determine if it was indeed election-related after a thorough investigation,” Cana said.
—WITH REPORTS FROM EDWIN O. FERNANDEZ AND WILLIAMOR A. MAGBANUA
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