9 dead, 12 hurt in ‘most peaceful’ elections — AFP

At least nine people were killed while 12 others were wounded in over 30 violent incidents that marred the country’s first nationwide automated elections on Monday. The military, however, said this year’s has been the “most peaceful" elections so far. “So far, this has been the most peaceful if we will compare it to the previous elections," said Col. Ricardo Nepomuceno, spokesman of the Armed Forces’ Task Force Honest, Orderly and Peaceful Elections. “We hope this would hold until tonight and throughout until the counting (of the votes) is over," Nepomuceno added. Nepomuceno said that as of 3 p.m. Monday, they recorded 37 election-related violent incidents based on the reports of military units nationwide. He said this number was far lower compared to the previous elections where incidents “go by the hundreds." He, however, failed to give the number of violent incidents in previous elections. The 37 incidents were broken down into six shooting incidents, 13 harassments, five encounters, one ransacking/robbery, one confiscation of a firearm, one ballot snatching, five voter intimidations, three mauling and two explosions of improvised explosives. Violent clashes between supporters of rival political clans are commonplace in Philippine elections. —KBK, GMANews.TV