POST-ELECTION VIOLENCE MOUNTING AS COUNT DRAGS ON
MANILA, May 13, 2004 (STAR) By Jaime Laude - Post-election violence is mounting nationwide despite calls from various sectors for sobriety and for opposing national and local candidates to restrain their supporters from sowing intrigue and making accusations of widespread cheating.Military field reports showed that a bystander, identified as Cheryll Naguila, died and 11 men were wounded after an improvised bomb exploded near the residence of Datu Bobet Padion in Barangay Busbus in Jolo, Sulu at 8:15 a.m. yesterday.
Padion’s residence is located barely a kilometer away from the Notre Dame High School, where votes were being canvassed, the report said.
Earlier, unidentified perpetrators detonated a bomb at the Tipo-Tipo Municipal Hall in Basilan island midnight the other day. The explosion failed to stop the canvassing of votes in the municipality and the ballots were immediately transferred to nearby Lamitan.
On Tuesday afternoon, two unidentified armed men snatched two ballot boxes in Barangay Mallapay in Tubao town, La Union. Responding local policemen were able to recover one of the ballot boxes.
An hour later, unidentified armed men indiscriminately fired their guns in front of the Tubao town hall. These men were also believed to have been responsible for the ballot-snatching.
One of the suspects was wounded after he was shot by government troops guarding the Tubao town hall.
In the province of Kalinga, 11 ballot boxes being transported to the Tinglayan Municipal Hall were snatched by unidentified armed men in Sitio Bangingit, Barangay Poblacion.
On Tuesday evening, eight armed men on board a Toyota Tamaraw FX van attacked the San Mariano Municipal Hall in Isabela, killing one policeman on duty and wounding another police officer in the course of their raid.
Three of the raiders proceeded into the session hall of the municipal building and burned the ballot boxes inside, the report said.
In a related development, 16 unidentified men also ransacked the Jones Municipal Hall in Isabela at 9:45 p.m. Tuesday.
The group burned the election canvass returns and other election paraphernalia before fleeing.
As of yesterday, Task Force HOPE has recorded a total of 119 deaths and reported that 137 others were wounded as a result of election-related violence.
The casualty rate in this year’s elections is much higher than in the 1998 national and local elections, where 67 people were killed.
Reported by: Sol Jose Vanzi
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