MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur — The Lanao del Sur Provincial Police Office (PPO) has denied reports of a shooting incident or the eruption of gunfire in Lumbaca-Unayan town during Monday’s parliamentary elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
Lt. Col. Juanito Jamis, deputy provincial director for administration of the Lanao del Sur PPO, made the clarification after election watchdog Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) told reporters in Manila that there was such an incident.
Jamis, however, admitted that a commotion occurred outside the Dilausan Elementary School in Barangay Dilausan in Lumbaca-Unayan.
“Voting has been smooth since 5 a.m. There was only a commotion,” Jamis told the Inquirer, although he did not elaborate what the tension was all about.
“We prevented it from escalating,” he added.
Jamis said it helped that “there are many troops around.”
The province saw unprecedented deployment of police and military troops during Monday’s historic political exercise.
Soldiers prepare the holding area of voters in a village in Marawi City on Sunday to ensure an orderly conduct of balloting. (INQUIRER / DIVINA M. SUSON)
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