MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) has so far recorded at least seven incidents of violence amid the first Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) parliamentary elections this Monday.
In a press briefing in Camp Crame, PNP public information chief Col. Allen Rae Co noted that the national police force recorded at least three purported shooting incidents in Basilan, Cotabato City and Maguindanao del Sur.
Three alleged explosion incidents were also recorded in Cotabato City, while an incident of a supposedly recovered improvised explosive device (IED) was likewise noted in Basilan, according to Co.
READ: 88.11% of BARMM poll centers open so far – PNP monitoring
He noted that, in the purported shooting incident at Cotabato City, three individuals were killed while 15 more were injured.
Co also detailed that, in the alleged explosion incident also at Cotabato City, only one individual had been wounded.
“This is the person himself who brought the IED. Siya mismo. As of now, considered siya as suspect. Siya mismo may dala,” Co explained.
(This is the person who brought the IED himself. As of now, he’s considered a suspect. He brought the device himself.)
“He’s being treated at the hospital as of now. Stable naman siya. We’re waiting to be able to question him,” he added.
(He’s being treated at the hospital as of now. He’s rather stable. We’re waiting to be able to question him.)
The PNP public information chief added that the national police force is still validating the details on the other incidents of violence recorded so far.
Co added that the violence recorded are considered suspected election-related incidents.
“Upon validation, mailalabas. But, we do not want na unahan doon sa pag-validate,” he added.
(We will release the details upon validation, but we do not want to preempt the validation.)
“Based sa initial analysis ng Comelec (Commission on Elections), this was meant to derail. Maybe ang kanilang pakay is to try and stop the election. But, we will not allow this to derail our electoral process,” Co noted.
(Based on the initial analysis of the Comelec, this was meant to derail. Maybe the intent was to try and stop the election. But, we will not allow this to derail our electoral process.)
Despite these developments, Co maintained that the BARMM elections had been “generally peaceful” so far.
“In the majority of areas in BARMM, napaka-peaceful ng electoral process. Nangyari lang na may incidents like this. We are calibrating our response,” he added.
(In the majority of areas in BARMM, the electoral process is very peaceful. It just so happened that these incidents occurred. We are calibrating our response.)
He also said the national police force had yet to record incidents of vote-buying.
Further, reacting to reports that at least 800 teachers had withdrawn from overseeing the polls due to concerns of violence, Co said at least 1,784 PNP personnel were ready to be deployed to serve as Special Electoral Board members. /jpv
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