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PNP, AFP: Polls 'peaceful' despite 47 violent incidents


The Philippine National Police (PNP) said the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) polls were "generally peaceful" despite the 47 election-related violent incidents reported on Monday. PNP head Director General Raul Bacalzo said the elections were considered "generally peaceful" because the number of violent incidents was significantly lower than the record of 101 cases in the 2007 barangay and SK elections. The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) also assessed the elections as "generally peaceful." "There were postponements in certain areas but these are due to non-security related reasons. Close coordination and cooperation with the PNP on the conduct of security operations prevented armed individuals and groups from pursuing personal motives to disrupt the electoral exercise," the military said in a statement posted on its Facebook page.

Cartoon by Manix Abrera
The AFP also attributed the reduction of election-related violent incidents to the establishment of the miliary and the police's joint control and security centers. "The elections went smoothly and orderly for most parts, except for isolated incidents in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). The activities and the overall situation are generally peaceful with no major untoward incidents," Bacalzo said at a news briefing at the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame in Quezon City. He also announced the following election-related cases:
  • 338 people apprehended for violating the liquor ban;
  • 671 violations have been reported since the gun ban began on September 25, and
  • 558 firearms have been confiscated. He said the violent incidents reported from ARMM included three separate grenade explosions in Maimbung town in Sulu, Marawi City in Lanao del Sur, and Maluso town in Basilan. Three shooting incidents were also reported from Lanao del Sur and Basilan. The PNP also said 2,023 barangays failed to hold elections because of delays in the shipment of election materials, among other reasons. Elections postponed in 1,732 areas According to the Commission on Elections, the barangay and SK polls were postponed in 1,732 areas (or 1.42 percent of the villages) nationwide. "Out of 42,025 barangays, we have a figure of 1,732 that failed to function today which are scheduled to conduct their elections tomorrow," Comelec Election and Barangay Affairs Department director Teofisto Elnas said Monday. He explained that "failed to function" means that voting in those villages did not start before noon for either because of:
  • a delay in the delivery of election materials, or
  • the damage caused by last week's super typhoon "Juan" in those areas. Elnas did not immediately release a complete list of the villages where elections were postponed. Comelec Resolution 9078 says that if the election paraphernalia for a particular precinct fail to arrive at noon of October 25, the elections will be held on the succeeding day that is feasible. Section 5 of the Omnibus Election Code says that an election can only be postponed "for any serious cause such as violence, terrorism, loss or destruction of election paraphernalia or records, force majeure, and other analogous causes of such a nature that the holding of a free, orderly and honest election should become impossible in any political subdivision." The poll body, however, is only given 30 days to schedule the election in a certain area. – with Kim Tan, VVP, GMANews.TV
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