Elections : affrontements meurtriers aux Philippines – mai 2010
Clashes erupt in security-risk Mindanao regions
bworldonline.com
May 11, 2010
Failure of elections declared in certain areas
ZAMBOANGA CITY — Poll-related violence erupted in some parts of volatile southwestern and central Mindanao yesterday, even as authorities reported no casualties.
At around 9:30 a.m., two hand grenades were lobbed inside a public elementary school in Marawi City where voting was taking place.
Lieutenant Estefani A. Cacho, spokesman of the Western Mindanao Command (WestMinCom) which has jurisdiction over the affected areas, said unidentified armed men tossed the grenades at Saduc Elementary School.
« No casualties were reported at this time and the incident is still under investigation, » she said.
Col. Wilson Mitra of WestMinCom’s U7division, said the incident has prompted the military to send extra troops to the city.
He added that all military assets have been deployed in the provinces of Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur.
Failure of elections was also declared in seven towns of Lanao del Sur due to the absence of poll supervisors and malfunctioning counting machines, Ms. Cacho said.
As these developed, troops providing security in polling precincts in the town of Al-Barka in Basilan province were attacked by at least 30 armed men.
« The fire fight is still ongoing, » Ms. Cacho said late Monday afternoon.
Earlier, armed men also attacked a Marine patrol in nearby Sumisip town, wounding two soldiers.
In addition, teachers acting as poll supervisors in the island-municipality of Sapa-Sapa in Tawi-Tawi refused to go on duty due to the presence of armed men in their assigned area, said Alfred Ari G. Regino, provincial coordinator of poll watchdog National Movement for Free Election (Namfrel).
Meanwhile, bomb explosions and shooting incidents marred the polls in Maguindanao province.
Two persons from warring political clans were killed, while mortar and an improvised explosive device went off in at least three towns in the province, the military said.
Antonio F. Moreno, S.J., president of the Ateneo de Zamboanga University and head of Namfrel in Western Mindanao, said his group expects poll-related violence to increase even after the elections.
Voting marred
In a related development, voting in many parts of Southern Mindanao and even Caraga were affected by rains.
Liezel Lizada, liaison officer of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) in Davao City, cited long voter queues.
« They clustered the precincts but members of the boards of election inspectors (BEI) remained at three, » she said. « Before, the three BEI members were serving 200, now they are serving 1,000 people. »
Peace and order in the city was maintained based on the assessment of Task Force Davao, the Army contingent assigned to guard the city against terrorist attacks.
Col. Oscar T. Lactao, task force chief, said the critical time is after the precincts close ballot boxes and PCOS machines are transported from far-flung areas to the city.
Similar observations were noted in Cagayan de Oro City even as the PPCRV reported certain irregularities in Northern Mindanao.
Several counting machines in Balingasag, San Simon and Jasaan towns in Misamis Oriental have either jammed or shut down. In Sagaya, Camiguin, one machine stopped after receiving 60 ballots.
In Lanao del Sur, elections in Tugaya and Calanogas towns stood still when opposing parties opened fire against each other. In Tugaya, participants to the International Observers Mission took shelter after hearing gunfire but were able to re-group after some time. Many voters, however, were scared to return to polling places.
« In [the town of] Masiu, no elections happened because there were no personnel from Comelec (Commission on Elections) and election supervisors, » said Aida E. Ibrahim of the Liga ng Kabataang Moro and a volunteer of the monitoring project, Healing Democracy. « Pualas [town] is doing manual voting because their PCOS (precinct count optical scan) machine did not work and was not replaced. »
In Zamboanga City, three supporters of a mayoralty candidate in the town of R. T. Lim in Zamboanga Sibugay were killed by government security personnel after they resisted to be subjected to search in a checkpoint and engaged policemen in a running gun battle around 2 a.m., said provincial police chief Senior Superintendent Federico Castro.
Due to security risks, Comelec field officials recommended failure of polls in certain areas in Mindanao.
These include the municipalities of Masiu, Lumba Bayabao, Lumbaca-Unayan and Tuburan in Lanao del Sur province where election supervisors failed to arrive; Guimbal in Iloilo province and Pagsanghan in Samar province where ballots designated for each area were inadvertently switched.
Meanwhile, hostilities disrupted polls in Al-barka, Basilan while polling places in Sumisip, also in Basilan, were attacked by unidentified elements.
James Arthur B. Jimenez, Comelec spokesman, said the Comelec is still identifying the reasons for recommending failure of elections in Maragong, Bayang, Sultan Dumalundong, all in Lanao del Sur.
« It seems that there is more violence now… [The] quality of violence has gotten worse [as w are] seeing open hostilities in some places, » Mr. Jimenez said, contrary to statements of security officials. — Darwin T. Wee and the Mindanao Bureau
Four killed in first Philippine election day unrest
AFP
May 10, 2010
FOUR people were killed in two separate outbursts of violence related to national elections held in the Philippines today, authorities said.
Three people were shot dead and 10 others wounded when police clashed with supporters of a mayoral candidate in the southern province of Zamboanga Sibugay before dawn, local military spokesman Captain Arnold Gasalatan said.
Police raided the compound of the candidate, whose bodyguards and supporters suffered all the casualties, Gasalatan said.
The cause of the clash was unclear but the police were ordered back to their stations, he said, adding the military had secured the area pending an investigation.
In another incident in the south, a cousin of the vice-governor in North Cotabato province was gunned down while riding on a motorcycle before polls opened, regional police said in a statement.
He and another man on the motorbike were ambushed in Kidapawan town, according to the statement. The other man was wounded but his injuries were not life-threatening.
Police said they suspected the gunmen were supporters of a rival candidate.
About 40 million Filipinos were expected to go to the polls today to elect more than 17,000 positions from the president down to town councillor.
Violence always plagues elections in the Philippines, with local politicians often using gunmen to eliminate rivals’ challenges or intimidate voters.
Today’s killings brings to at least 33 the number of people killed in political violence over the past four months, according to police statistics.
This does not include 57 people massacred in the southern Maguindanao province in November last year, allegedly by a powerful Muslim clan to stop a rival from running for provincial governor.
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