Grenade blasts rock Makati, Zamboanga ahead of polls

Two men were arrested in Zamboanga del Norte shortly after they lobbed a grenade at a Dapitan City elementary school late Sunday night. Reports received by GMANews.TV early Monday said police seized the suspects, Dodong Gallepose and Boy Insong, before they could escape. The grenade exploded inside the Opao Elementary School but no one was reported injured. Hours after the Zamboanga attack, a grenade exploded at the headquarters of a candidate for councilor in Makati City, early Monday morning, radio dzBB reported. The report said two motorcycle-riding men lobbed the explosive device in front of the campaign headquarters of Vincent Sese in Guadalupe, Viejo, around 3 a.m. No one was hurt during the incident, but Senior Superintendent Gilbert Cruz, chief of the Makati police, told DZBB that the explosion damaged three vehicles at the compound. Cruz said they have yet determined the type of the grenade used by the perpetrators. He said the grenade's head and lever were recovered and will be sent to a bomb expert for examination. The police have yet established the motive for the bombing. Cruz said he will send a report to the higher-ups for them to determine if Makati could still be placed under the control of the Commission on Elections. This was the third election-related violence that hit Makati. Shots were fired at the house of a congressional candidate in the first district of Makati City on Sunday night. Cruz told DZBB that before 11 p.m. unidentified men on a maroon Asian utility vehicle (AUV) drove slowly in front of candidate Oscar Ibay's house at 1408 Newton street, San Isidro village and indiscriminately fired their guns at the gate. Cruz said five to six empty bullet shells from a .45-caliber pistol were recovered from the site. He said Ibay, former Makati councilor, left his house, minutes before the incident. Earlier unidentified men fired at the house of retired general Aquilino Acop, a supporter of reelectionist Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay. The preventive suspension issued against Binay and his treasurer stemmed from a plunder case filed by Ibay. Cruz said they are already investigating on the matter, trying to find out if the two shooting incidents are related. As many as 45 million registered voters troop to various polling places nationwide Monday to pick a new set of legislators and local officials in a political exercise many believe would determine the fate of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Mrs Arroyo is not a candidate, but she has plenty at stake in the elections. The focus of the election will be on the races for Congress, especially the House of Representatives. The opposition has mounted two impeachment efforts against Mrs Arroyo over allegations that she rigged the 2004 presidential vote, only to see both bids voted down in the House, where the President's allies dominate. A major shift in power in the House would immediately spark moves to revive the impeachment case and send it to the opposition-dominated Senate for trial. Still, the odds appear in favor of Mrs Arroyo — who also survived two coup plots and numerous other crises during six years in power — despite weak approval ratings. Opinion polls suggest that no major shifts are likely, in part because the economy in one of Asia's poorest countries has been rallying. The stock market is up 12 percent this year, while the peso is at its strongest level against the US dollar since October 2000. Sen. Joker Arroyo, no relation to the President, has warned against voting for opposition candidates whose "only agenda is to overthrow the Arroyo presidency and, in the process, put the economic takeoff in jeopardy." Filipinos will elect 12 out of 24 senators, all 236 House of Representatives members and nearly 17,500 governors, mayors and other local officials. Vote counting is done by hand, so final results are weeks away. Despite a ban on bearing firearms in public since Jan. 14, more than 100 people — half of them politicians — have been killed in pre-election violence. Mrs Arroyo, whose father was also president, has been in office since January 2001, when the country's second "people power" revolt ousted predecessor Joseph Estrada on corruption allegations. While lacking Estrada's popularity among the poor and often hamstrung by a divided Congress, her survival instincts have now turned her into one of Asia's longest-serving leaders, with another three years to go before the next presidential vote. She won't be able to seek re-election, so positioning for the 2010 ballot is already under way. The opposition has been hampered in its efforts to oust Mrs Arroyo by the lack of a clear leader after action film star Fernando Poe Jr., who finished second in the 2004 presidential race, died of a stroke months afterward. Estrada, whose long-running corruption trial is dragging toward a verdict, also will be watching keenly, amid speculation that a change in leadership could lead to the case against him being dropped. There are plenty of individual races in the spotlight, mostly due to celebrity or infamy. Gregorio "Gringo" Honasan, a military officer on bail while fighting allegations of involvement in several coup plots, is considered a strong contender for a Senate seat. The election system guarantees that 20 percent of the House seats go to underrepresented sectors such as farmers, fishermen and laborers. So a retired general — accused of instigating extrajudicial killings — could end up rubbing shoulders with left-wing lawmakers who have burned his effigy in the streets. Voters can choose between a candidate's legal name or nickname. So those casting ballots in a race for a legislative council in Lanao del Sur province, for example, can write down either Agakhan Sharief or his moniker, Osama bin Laden. Unlike the world's most-wanted terror suspect, Sharief is known as a peacemaker who has helped broker truces when sporadic clashes have erupted between government troops and Muslim insurgents. His nickname comes from his physical resemblance to bin Laden. Boxer Manny Pacquiao, a national icon, is running for a House seat. One party list group is composed of basketball stars and other athletes. Movie stars dot the ballots, too. The Philippines has 45 million registered voters, including a half-million of the 7.5 million Filipinos who live and work abroad. The decision to start allowing them to vote in 2004 reflects the economic clout they represent, with the remittances that they send home providing the country's largest source of foreign currency. - GMANews.TV