Comelec notes 19 dead, 244 violent incidents in barangay, SK elections
Police gather evidence beside bodies of shooting victims outside a polling station following a confrontation between supporters of rival candidates during barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao on October 30, 2023. (File photo by FERDINAND CABRERA / AFP)
MANILA, Philippines — Nineteen people were confirmed to have been killed in the last three days or since August 28, amid the barangay and sangguniang kabataan elections (BSKE).
Commission on Elections (Comelec) gave the figure on Tuesday based on data from the Philippine National Police.
The period also covers today, October 31, says the poll body.
The majority, or 11, of the killings, were recorded in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Barmm), where a total of 13 election-related incidents took place.
Thirty (30) persons fell victim to crimes in Barmm.
Fourteen (14) of them were injured, while five were not physically unharmed, but they suffered other types of trauma.
Suspects in the 12 of 13 offenses were arrested.
Meanwhile, police in Bicol and Central Visayas listed two deaths in each region.
Ilocos, Calabarzon, Zamboanga Peninsula and Cordillera Administrative Region documented one fatality each.
Comelec chair George Garcia also said PNP logged a sum of 244 incidents of violence.
29 of the reports are related to the elections.
111 are “suspected” to be connected to the polls.
Meanwhile, 104 of the cases have nothing to do with BSKE.
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