Two areas declared under Comelec control over violent incidents, pre-shaded ballots

The Commissions on Election en banc has decided early Monday morning to place two areas, Cotabato City and Maluso in Basilan, under Comelec control due to incidents of violence and discovery of pre-shaded ballots.

"Ito po ay dahil sa mga pangyayari kagabi tulad ng una, 'yung pagpapaputok [ng baril] na sa awa ng Diyos ay wala namang natamaan," said Comelec Chairman George Garcia in a statement.

(This is because of the events last night, like the first one, the firing of [guns], which, by the grace of God, did not hit anyone.)

"Yung pangalawa, yung pagsabog na ang nabiktima ay yun mismong may dala ng pampasabog. Ang conclusion ng ating PNP, ito ay IED or Improvised Explosion Device," he added.

(The second, the explosion where the victim was the one carrying the explosives. Our PNP concluded that it was an IED or Improvised Explosion Device.)

Maluso town in Basilan is also under Comelec control, said Garcia.

"We determined, as of last night, compromised 'yung 36 of the 68 precincts na mga balota. Nalaman namin na lahat ito ay napre-shade," he said.

(We determined, as of last night, that 36 of the 68 precincts' ballots were compromised. We found that all of them were shaded.)

Garcia said they were already have details on the culprit and that he already ordered reprinting of the ballots from the affected precincts.

There were ballot boxes that were compromised or the seals of the boxes were broken, said Garcia. However, upon closer inspection, the integrity of the ballots remain intact. The voting process in the remaining 32 precincts in Maluso will proceed as scheduled.

The election is expected to yield 80 parliamentary members composed of 40 Regional Parliamentary Party Representatives, 32 parliamentary district representatives, and 8 sectoral representatives.

Another shooting incident was reported on Sunday evening following the commotion between supporters of rival candidates at the Datu Usman Mampen school site in Barangay Bagua 2.

At least three persons were killed while 15 were injured over a dispute regarding queue positioning for supporters. — BAP, GMA News