MANILA, Philippines — Like in previous barangay (village) elections, violence marred Monday’s balloting in some of the over 42,000 villages across the archipelago, but the police said cases of violence were isolated and could not disrupt the election proceedings nationwide.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) said two persons were killed and at least three others were wounded in shootings in Negros Occidental and Maguindanao, the site of the worst election-related violence in the country.
Deputy Director General Felipe Rojas Jr., National Task Force SAFE (Secure and Fair Elections) commander, described the electoral process — the second the country held this year — as relatively peaceful despite the reported violence in certain areas.
In a news briefing at Camp Crame, he said the PNP deployed a total of 1,649 policemen in Sulu, Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao as members of the Special Board of Election Tellers (SBET) after public school teachers refused to perform election duties due to security concerns.
“We consider this barangay elections as peaceful… because we did not have any major incidents that affected the general conduct of the elections,” Rojas told reporters.
“We assure the people that the PNP and the military are doing everything to have fair, secure and safe barangay elections,” he added.
Senior Supt. Reuben Theodore Sindac, PNP public information office chief, said the 17 regional police offices did not report any “major or serious peace and order concerns” as the polling centers closed at 3 p.m.
“The sovereign will of the electorate has prevailed,” Sindac said.
“Although there were some reported cases of isolated incidents of violence… these were not serious as to have a significant effect on the overall peace and order situation on a national scale,” he said.
He said policemen were sent to maintain peace and order during the canvassing of votes in about 170,000 clustered precincts in more than 36,000 polling centers nationwide.
“Police security forces are under specific instructions to remain in their posts to provide security to the election activities until after completion and termination of the proceedings,” Sindac said.
Among the significant incidents was in Toboso town in Negros Occidental province, where a candidate for barangay captain and his four companions were tagged in the killing of two men who were shot dead an hour before the polling centers opened on Monday.
Gary Enriquez, who was running for barangay chairman in Barangay Poblacion, and his cohorts allegedly shot Lione Belleza and Brian Bacordo as the victims were traversing Purok Kinalumsan, Barangay Poblacion at around 6 a.m. aboard a motorcycle.
Belleza died instantly while Bacordo expired as he was being taken to a hospital in Escalante City.
Police said a witness identified Enriquez’s companions as Tata Walter, Toto Kaskas, Regie Palarca and a certain Toto Maton.
The alleged gunmen immediately fled the area after the shooting and remained at large, as of late Monday
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