DAVAO CITY–Police and the military authorities declared as peaceful the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections across the Davao region on Monday.
This despite the break out of violence between the supporters of opposing barangay captain candidates in Barangay 23-C Isla Verde on Saturday night, including Sunday’s police operation that killed the incumbent barangay captain of Barangay Pangyan, Calinan District, here.
Barangay 23-C was heavily guarded by police and the Task Force Davao after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) imposed a 10 p.m. curfew on Sunday. The curfew will be lifted after the final counting of votes, Comelec said.
Police also reported a commotion in Barangay Tanglaw in Braulio E. Dujali town, Davao del Norte, where the camp of barangay chairperson Restie Tabirao allegedly barred the supporters of rival candidate Cocoy Aguiluz from voting.
Tabirao’s camp alleged that several of Aguiluz’s supporters were not registered voters in the area. However, the local Comelec officers intervened and confirmed that the persons were in fact duly registered voters in the barangay.
Even some remote areas, where authorities expected the New People’s Army (NPA) to launch attacks following the capture of top NPA commander Elizalde Cañete, posted zero incidents.
“So far, no untoward incident was reported,” said 1003rd Brigade Commander Brig Gen Ernesto Torres in an interview at the Regional Election Monitoring Action Center (REMAC).
Torres said there was no detected NPA movement to disrupt the elections in Davao City, where the NPA’s Pulang Bagani Command (PBC) 1, which Cañete headed, operates.
“We can see a peaceful and credible election,” Torres added.
The Davao City Police Office (DCPO) confirmed that as of 4 p.m. 80 percent of the polling precincts in the city have started the canvassing of ballots. (Lilian C. Mellejor/PNA)
