COTABATO CITY – A bomb exploded near a voting center in Pagalungan, Maguindanao while a reelectionist mayor was casting his vote Monday morning.
Senior Inspector Blayn Lumase, chief of Pagalungan police, said the explosion, believed to have come from a rifle grenade launcher, occurred at about 7:30 a.m. while voting was ongoing inside Mamasabulod Elementary School.
Nobody was hurt in the blast, Lumase said, but it sent fear among voters. Minutes later, voting resumed.
In Cotabato City, Army Special Forces are hunting down two men who barged inside a voting precinct in Datu Amerol Elementary School as voting started at past 6 a.m.
Colonel Ranie Sevilla, Special Forces commander, said a commotion ensued after two unidentified men engaged in a fistfight inside the precinct, forcing voters to disperse.
Then another group of men barged inside, filled the official ballots and fed them in the VCM.
Members of the Board of Election Inspectors were helpless, witnesses said. Soldiers and police officers later arrived but the suspects were gone.
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