ZAMBOANGA CITY– Five persons were killed and 10 others were wounded in 14 incidents of election related violence in the provinces covered by the Western Mindanao Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (WesMinCom).

WesMinCom chief Maj. Gen. Benjamin Dolorfino also reported one incident of ballot snatching and the declaration of failure of elections in seven towns  during a press conference organized by the United Front for Honest, Orderly and Peaceful Elections (UF-Hope) late Monday  night.

In Lanao del Sur, five incidents of bombing and four incidents of strafing were reported. One person was killed. The perpetrators were not yet named as of press time.

In Zamboanga Sibugay, four persons were killed and nine were wounded at the height of the voting yesterday. Initial reports of the AFP indicated that members of the Philippine National Police opened fired at a gathering of the supporters of Surabay mayoral candidate Rogelio Lopez of Lakas-Kampi.

In Basilan,  two violent incidents were reported. Firefighting occurred between partisan armed groups and the Philippine Marines at 8 a.m. in Barangay Kumair, Sumisip town. One member of the Marines was wounded. The AFP said the apparent motive of the armed partisans was to harass civilians and prevent them from voting.

At 1:15 p.m., 30 members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) under Commander Bashir attacked government security personnel in barangay Bato-bato in the town of Albarka  resulting in a firefight that lasted an hour. The AFP said that the rebels were supporting mayoral candidate Samir Jakian and the attack was meant to disenfranchise voters of the opposing candidate. No casualty was reported on the side of the government troops and the civilians.

In the province of Sulu, one incident of election-related violence was reported. Unidentified armed men open fired at civilians with small arms and mortar shells in barangay Tulay, in the town of Panglima Estino. One company of Scout Rangers pursued the perpetrators. No casualties were reported as of press time.

In Tawi-tawi, an incident of ballot snatching was reported in barangay Tumahubong, Languyan town at 9:30 a.m. on election day. One policeman involved in the incident was arrested. The ballots were not recovered as of press time.

In Lanao del Sur, the COMELEC declared failure of elections in  seven municipalities because of “confusion” over the clustering of election precincts.

Earlier COMELEC clustered polling centers into 19 clusters only to re-organize it into 55 clusters on election day. This resulted to confusion and eventual declaration of failure of elections. Affected municipalities were as follows: Masiu, Lumba Bayabao, Lumba Caunayan, Bayang, Tuburan, Sultan Marogong, and Lumbatan.

Dolorfino said elections were declared generally peaceful in the provinces of Lanao del Norte, Misamis Occidental, Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur and Zamboanga City where no election-related violence was reported.

“This means that the security measures implemented by the AFP were effective and the synergy of the Joint Security Coordinating Centers established in all the provinces worked well,” he  said.

Task Force Honest, Orderly and Peaceful Elections (Task Force HOPE) of the Armed Forces recorded 37 cases of election-related violence nationwide on Monday, including six shooting incidents, 13 episodes of harassment, five encounters, five cases of voters intimation, three mauling incidents and two bomb explosions. The task force also monitored the confiscation of a firearm and a ballot snatching incident.

The Philippine National Police and the AFP have been on full red alert for the elections.

Monday’s killings began hours before the country’s 76,000 polling precincts opened at 7 a.m.

An encounter between police and an armed group in R.T. Lim town in Zamboanga Sibugay at 2 a.m. left three members of the group dead. The group, believed to be allied with mayoral candidate Rogelio Gomez, tried to force its way through a police checkpoint and fired on law enforcers that were manning it.

An hour later in Antique province on Panay island, two supporters of mayoral candidate Gil Bandoja died and four others were wounded in an ambush reportedly by members of the local police in Tibiao town. A survivor said their cars were blocked by PNP patrol cars, forcing them to slow down before they were fired upon.

The other deaths occurred while voting was ongoing. Cavite Rep. Plaridel Abaya and his children were aboard a vehicle in the afternoon when they were shot at in Bacoor town. Abaya’s chief of staff and his two security guards were the recorded casualties.

In Maguindanao, where the country’s worst pre-election violence took place last Nov. 23, supporters of two vice mayoral candidates exchanged gunfire in a voting center in a barangay in North Kabuntalan, Maguindanao, leaving two dead and disrupting voting.

Task Force Hope also reported an ongoing clash between lawless elements town and three grenade explosions in Datu Piang and warned journalists to stay away from the place.

In Datu Unsay, Ampatuan in Maguindanao, a group of men opened fire at a polling place in a public market. The polling precincts closed as police and military troops arrived to secure the place, backed up by two tanks.

In Lanao del Sur, another ARMM province, two persons lining up to vote at an elementary school died when armed men fired at voters at a poll precinct in Tugaya. The exchange of gunfire in several barangays in the town sent voters rushing back to their homes without casting their votes. Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines and ballots were also not delivered to polling places in Calangas town, also in Lanao del Sur, because of sporadic firing from an opposition party over clustering issues.

Election monitors reported that improvised bombs exploded near the gymnasium of the Mindanao State University campus in Marawi City, a black Isuzu highlander blew up near an elementary school where people were voting, and another improvised bomb exploded in Barangay Saduc.

The Commission on Elections, meanwhile, received reports that hostilities in Albarka and Sumisip towns in Basilan halted the conduct of elections. In Sumisip, government troops were attacked by unidentified men, leaving one soldier dead.

Despite the string of incidents, Supt. Bienvenido Latag, ARMM police regional director, said, “The AFP is on top of the situation.”

The ARMM has been placed under AFP control. Of the 82 election-related violence incidents recorded by the Philippine National Police nationwide from Jan. 10, when the election period began, to May 9, 11 of them occurred in ARMM.

Col. Ricardo Nepomucemo of Task Force HOPE also told a press briefing at Camp Cream today that this year’s elections was the “most peaceful so far.”

The PNP reported 276 incidents of election-related violence during the 150-day election period in 2007 and 312 in 2004.  This year’s election period will end on June 9.

But Comelec spokesmen James Jimenez told journalists at the Philippine International Convention Center, where the poll body will be canvassing the official results for the senatorial race, “There’s more violence now than in previous elections. It’s worse because we are now seeing open hostilities.”

Jimenez said hostilities might be high this time since “politicians now know they cannot cheat anymore.” But he added, “That may be an unfair assessment.”

Nongovernment election monitors had earlier warned that violence might escalate in some parts of the country after the polls  such as Sulu and Maguindanao.

The country’s top hotspots include the ARMM provinces, Lanao del Norte, Abra, Masbate, Nueva Ecija and Samar, among others.

The Consortium on Electoral Reform said last week a significant number of the acts of poll violence were “planned and targeted.” It pointed to the ambuscades, assassinations and bomb attacks that have been carried out since the start of the election period.

It also said,  “While the number of incidents is relatively lower as compared to the same period in the 2007 elections, what is bothering is the significant number of fatalities (and) there are victims killed in almost every incident.”

THREE armed persons were killed early Monday morning in a brief gunbattle with police operatives in R.T. Lim town in Zamboanga Sibugay province.

Joint elements of the local police and the Philippine National Police Special Armed Forces provincial office were manning a checkpoint in Barangay Poblacion at 2 a.m. when an armed group tried to force its way through and fired on the law enforcers.

Reinforcements from the PNP and the Army’s 102nd Brigade pursued the group, believed to be allied with Rogelio Gomez, a mayoral candidate in RT Lim which is 12 kilometers from the provincial capital Ipil.

Gomez is a candidate of the Lakas-Kampi party headed locally by Rep. Ann Hofer, who is eyeing the gubernatorial post in this year’s elections.

In Ipil, supporters of Vice Mayor Anamiel Olegario and his opponent, Capt. Susing Tiu, engaged in a free-for-all near a  polling center in Sanito Elementary School in Barangay Sanito at 9:30 a.m. while voting was ongoing.

Roger Sardua, a member of the Civilian Volunteer Organization and a supporter of Tiu, accused Olegario’s supporters of mauling him while he was on duty at the gate of the school. He was wounded on the lips and hands.

Olegario’s camp, however, said Sardua and his CVO companions started the fight when they stoned the house of Olegario’s precinct leader Riza Oyan.

The rumble started when Sardua stopped Olegario’s young volunteers from distributing leaflets near the precinct.  He was reportedly not his CVO uniform.

Relatives of the volunteers headed by Oyan and her husband arrived at the school and mauled him, reports said. The rumble ensued when other CVO members came to Sardua’s aid.

CVO members said reelectionist Vice Gov. Rey Olegario, husband of Ipil Vice Mayor Anamiel Olegario, also joined the fray and allegedly mauled another CVO member.

IPIL, Zamboanga Sibugay.–A bomb exploded in front of radio station Magic 103 FM in Barangay Kitabog, Titay town, this province, early Monday evening.

The station, which is owned by Sibugay governor George T. Hofer, is about 20 meters away from his residence.

Wounded in the blast was Nestor Abando, 46, who was aboard a multi-cab passenger vehicle passing by the area when the bomb exploded around 6:45 p.m.

Abando sustained superficial shrapnel wounds on his back.

Witnesses say two men riding a colored yellow XRM Honda motorcycle stopped along the highway in front of the station. The passenger then got off and lobbed what could be a grenade at the station.

Initial investigation by a team from the Philippine National Police’s Scene of the Crime Operatives and the Philippine Army’s Explosives and Ordnance Division of the Army revealed that the device used could have been either an improvised explosive or a fragmentation grenade based on the ground impact of the blast.

Station Manager Kim Porras, who was inside the station when the explosion occurred, said the motive behind the bombing could be retaliation for the political commentaries of the station’s blocktimers.

He, too, admitted having received subtle threats though text messages warning him, “Hinay-hinay lang (take it slowly).”

The blast happened minutes after Porras’ radio program ended.

Hofer, whose term ends in June 2010, is running for mayor of Ipil against incumbent Mayor Eldwin Alibutdan.

Hofer’s daughter and incumbent second district congresswoman Ann Hofer is running for governor while his son Jet is running for congress.  Ann and Jet Hofer are running against Rommel and John-john Jalosjos, respectively.

Jalosjos Jr. is a son of convicted rapist and former Zamboanga del Norte congressman Romeo Jalosjos.

No less than the court sheriff of the CA’s 22nd Division based in Cagayan de Oro City flew by helicopter to Ipil town on Friday, Nov. 27, to personally deliver the order to the Ipil Registration Board, just hours before the Election Registration Board released its official voters’ list.

Jalosjos Jr. called the CA decision an act of “divine intervention.”

The election in Zamboanga Sibugay is shaping up as a contest to watch. Jalosjos and half-brother Rommel, who is running for governor, have initially claimed to be the official candidates of the administration party Lakas-Kampi-CMD.

Rommel, a chef who had been based in Australia for years, returned in November 2008 to establish residency, subsequently reacquiring Filipino citizenship.

The brothers are going up against the incumbent Hofer family. Ann Hofer, congresswoman of the second district, has filed her certificate of candidacy for governor, also under the administration party.

Hofer said her group, which includes her brother and incumbent Provincial Administrator Jet Hofer II, has the blessings of party stalwarts, Local Governments Secretary Ronaldo Puno and presidential candidate Gilberto Teodoro.

Jet Hofer is running against Jalosjos Jr.

Hofer said in a speech recently that a revocation effectively terminating the Jalosjos group as official candidates of the Lakas-Kampi-CMD would soon be issued.

True enough, the administration on Tuesday revoked its support for the candidacy of the Jalosjos brothers who, sources said, have approached Nacionalista Party standard-bearer Manuel Villar for a possible tie-up.

Jalosjos Jr. would not have been able to file his candidacy without the CA ruling, which orders the name “Romeo Jalosjos Jr.” included in the official voters’ list in Precinct 51-F in Barangay Veterans Village in Ipil town.

The CA ruling reverses a Sept. 11 decision of the Pagadian City Regional Trial Court excluding him from the roll.

The RTC case was filed by Veterans Village barangay captain Dan Erasmo Sr. who alleged, among other things, that Jalosjos could not be considered a resident of Ipil since he is the incumbent mayor of Tampilisan, Zamboanga del Norte.

The decision of RTC Presiding Judge Aniceto Galon was final and executory, and had already been enforced by the Election Registration Board of Ipil which had deleted his name from the official list of Ipil voters in a resolution dated Sept. 30.

Jalosjos Jr. then petitioned the CA for certiorari and issuance of either a temporary restraining order or a writ of preliminary mandatory injunction or both.

The CA sought counsel from other entities, among them the Office of the Solicitor General. The OSG had asked for more time to decide, saying it would submit its comment in January 2010.

But without awaiting the OSG’s comment, the CA held that Jalosjos had “satisfactorily shown the existence of an extraordinary situation which calls for the issuance of a writ of preliminary injunction.”

Jalosjos Jr.’s lawyer, Richard Rambuyong, said the CA issued the writ on Thursday, Nov. 26. The next day, Nov. 27, the court sheriff himself personally delivered the order, arriving by helicopter at the Ipil airport at 2 p.m.

At 4 p.m., the injunction was submitted to Ipil’s Election Registration Board.  At 5 p.m., the Ipil Election Registration Board released the official voters’ list, which now includes “Romeo M. Jalosjos Jr.” as a registered voter in Precinct 51-F, Barangay Veterans Village.

The next day, Nov. 28, armed with a resolution issued by the Ipil Commission on Elections and the new voters’ list of Veteran’s Village, Jalosjos Jr. filed his certificate of candidacy for congressman of the second district of Zamboanga Sibugay.

The Jalosjos brothers are running alongside incumbent vice governor Andre Olegario who is seeking re-election, and candidates for board members Hadji Said Ajeron, Flor Coliba, Editha Colanghe, Eric Palma and Cris Jore for the first district. For the second district, the Jalosjos partymates are Eric Cabarios, Boyet “Empoy” Abalde, Ipil councilor Joel Ebol, Wilborne Danda and Sonny Dacula.

Running under the Hofers are vice gubernatorial bet Board Member Juanito “Igsoon” Gonzales, and candidates for board members Quirino Esguerra, Vic Javier, Rodrigo Belosillo, Gani Balladares and Jessie Sali for the second district. In the first district, the names of Buug mayor Tessie Famor, Sakalura, Iwaya and Suarez have cropped up as Hofer allies.