INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MALUSO, Basilan, Philippines — Four people, one of them an incumbent barangay official, sustained gunshot and hacking wounds when they were attacked near the doorstep of their polling place in Barangay Lahi-Lahi of Tuburan town, Basilan on Monday.
The incident took place around 8 a.m. while voting was already in progress.
“Witnesses of the attack have identified the attackers as supporters of a candidate running for barangay captain in Lahi-Lahi,” Tuburan Mayor Dorie Kalahal said.
Kalahal identified the wounded as incumbent Barangay Chair Ibrahim Atang, who was running for reelection, and his supporters Yunus Junaid, Jamjam Mustaham, and Mudjalin Abdua.
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Col. Carlos Madronio, chief of the Basilan Police Provincial Office, said the incident occurred outside a polling precinct, where the suspects, one of them, an active member of the Philippine Coast Guard, “went amok.”
Madronio identified the PCG member as K. Jalil, a sibling of Habirin Jalil, who was running for village chair in Barangay Lahi-Lahi.
Madronio said the incident was still under investigation.
Samier Tamay, one of the victims who escaped, said many registered voters were disenfranchised because of the incident after they chose to leave the polling center for fear of reprisal attacks.
Kalahal said the polling place was moved to Barangay Mahawid, where it was later found to have no available classroom for the voters. Local officials then moved the voting venue again to Sinulatan National High School in Barangay Sinulatan.