Scuffle with armed men stops voting
>> Friday, November 10, 2023
ABRA- In Tineg,
a brief scuffle between men believed to be carrying handguns in their sling
bags briefly stopped BSK election in barangay Lapat Balantay Monday morning.
A group of men engaged in an argument caught on video showed men trying to snatch the sling pouch of a still unidentified man.
It was not clear if the men were engaged in a shootout, but reports said one of the men fired his firearm in the air.
The scuffle ended when some women and men brought the man whose sling pouch was being snatched outside the polling area.
The incident occurred in front of children.
This prompted deployment of additional special electoral boards at said polling center.
The deployment came after electoral board member-teachers refused to serve at polling centers due to the incident.
Recently, the Office of the Provincial Election Supervisor said three police personnel were deployed in the barangay to serve as special electoral board members.
Peredo Jr. said 71 policemen were trained for election board duties, who manned the polling precincts in Cordillera.
Of these 60 were deployed in Abra and 11 in Kalinga.
Still in Tineg, casting of votes in Lapat Balantay, Tineg, Abra was extended by about five hours after it was disrupted from 8:30 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Monday.
“They should have extended the voting in that barangay (village) until all the voters have voted,” Atty. Mae Richelle Belmes, Abra provincial election officer said in a press conference at the command center of the Provincial Election Monitoring center here.
Belmes said the situation stemmed from a shooting incident around 8:30 a.m. about 500 meters at the back of the voting center in Barangay Lapat Balantay but no added information was given.
”The election officer said the teachers were so afraid and trembling that they refused to resume the voting, but our rules said that the character of the voting in any election should be continuous and uninterrupted. If there is a question that is raised by a watcher, it should form part of the report but there should be no interruption,” she added.
Together with members of Provincial Joint Security Control Center, Belmes immediately brought three police-special electorate board (SEB) using a chopper to replace the teachers and ensure the 258 voters at said precinct would not be disenfranchised.
”Our immediate action was to deploy a substitute. The voting place was located about six hours by walking from the municipal hall. We were able to reach the place in 15 minutes with the help of the Black Hawk of the Philippine Army,” Belmes said.
Despite arrival of the new SEB, Belmes said the teachers refused to resume voting as well as refused to turn over election paraphernalia, even locking them in the ballot box.
”They have declared a failure of election and locked the paraphernalia. It is not within their function because it is only Comelec that can declare a failure of election,” she said.
After hours of negotiation and explanation and upon Comelec’s order to arrest the teachers for violation of the Omnibus Election Code, the three teachers gave in and resumed voting.
Belmes said she ordered the municipal election officer who was accompanied by the Commander of the 102nd Battalion to proceed to Lapat Balantay so there would be a Comelec representative in the area until proceedings were over.
Other incidents
Aside from the incident in Lapat Balantay, Belmes said other issues they recorded were presence of politicians in voting precincts where they are not registered and presence of a lawyer in Lapat Balantay when the problem was at its height, who was peacefully asked to leave the premises.
Belmes said voting in Abra started at 7 a.m. except for Barangay Kalaw in Villaviciosa due to problems with supplies, due to negligence of electoral board.
In Bangued, Abra, Comelec chairperson George Erwin Garcia said the government took full control in Abra during BSK elections on Monday.
“We would like to assure the people of Abra and the entire country that the Comelec is in control, our partners in the PNP (Philippine National Police), AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines), Philippine Army, DepEd (Department of Education), we are in full control of the situation here in Abra and the entire country,” he said in a press conference there.
He said Abra some teachers have been experiencing coercion and 30 of them have resigned as board of election inspectors).
He said the Comelec, PNP, AFP and the DepEd worked as one to ensure voters will be able to vote and to ensure electoral workers, election officials and employees in Abra were safe.
Garcia arrived in Bangued with PNP Chief Gen. Benjamin Acorda Jr. earlier Oct. 29.
Acorda also allayed the fear of teachers who opted to stay and continue to serve in the BSKE.
Acorda said there are 144 police personnel trained to replace teachers who withdrew as BEIs.
Teachers probed
This as the Dept. of Education placed under investigation three Abra teachers who manned the remote polling precinct in Tineg town for declaring a “failure of elections” shortly after a gun was discharged near their school on Monday during the elections.
Army soldiers augmenting security in Abra were the first responders when a Cal.45 pistol was fired about 500 meters from the back of an elementary school at 8:30 a.m. in Tineg “possibly to cause a commotion,” said Army Col. Ferdinand dela Cruz, commander of the 501st Infantry Brigade based in Cagayan Valley.
Except for personnel assigned to protect a voting precinct, the police and soldiers tasked with securing the area must stay a few meters away from poll centers.
Despite all these, Peredo Jr. said the recently concluded BSK elections were generally peaceful despite some incidents particularly in Abra.
Peredo, in press briefing Oct. 30 at regional police headquarters in Camp Dangwa, La Trinidad, Benguet, disclosed eight incidents noted during elections.
There were five verified election-related incidents, two yet to be verified, while another was not election-related. Most incidents took place in Abra.
Peredo added 71 police personnel served as Special Board of Election Inspectors in the region.
From the number, 11 were deployed in Kalinga Province while 60 were stationed in Abra after some teachers withdrew as poll facilitators due to intimidation by still unidentified men.
Peredo added more than 300 candidates in Abra withdrew before the elections.
The total number of candidates was 8,400.
He said one major reason of withdrawal was because of community and family agreements where some of them gave way to their opponents, said to be relatives.
Acorda Jr., had ordered an investigation into reports of rising violence in Abra amid killing of a poll bet as 250 candidates in the Oct. 30 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections in the province backed out from the race.
Acorda said candidates relayed alleged security threats during a recent meeting.
As of Oct. 20, a total of 250 BSKE aspirants had withdrawn their candidacies, according to Belmes.
Most of those who quit were candidates in the SK polls who have relatives holding elective positions in the local government, Belmes said.
These candidates want to avoid disqualification in case they win the BSKE, she said.
Belmes said some candidates running for barangay chairman and kagawad were “forced to quit the race.”
She said without a formal complaint, the poll body could not file a case against anyone who coerced the candidates to withdraw from the BSKE.
The Comelec office in Abra said among those who withdrew from the BSKE were 48 bets for barangay captain, 88 for kagawad, 24 for SK chair and 90 for SK member.
Abra’s capital town Bangued recorded highest number of BSKE candidates who withdrew with 49 followed by Licuaan-Baay with 40 and Tineg with 23.
Of the 27 municipalities in Abra, only three towns –Danglas, Langiden and La Paz – reported no withdrawal from the BSKE.
Comelec Deputy Executive Director for Operations Rafael Olaño, in interview, said withdrawals, which happened over a few weeks, were not due to security issues but mostly voluntary and came following agreement among community elders.
Gov. Dominic Valera and Vice Gov. Ma. Jocelyn Valera-Bernos earlier urged Oct. 14 deployment of more cops in the province amid rising tension following an encounter between policemen and an armed group in Bucay town.
The armed men reportedly knocked on houses to persuade residents to vote for their candidates.
At least 44 teachers reportedly begged off from serving in the BSKE this Oct. 30. – AD with reports from Menchi Kinao, Aldwin Quitasol, Liza Agoot, Jun Elias, Stephanie Sevillano and PNA
A group of men engaged in an argument caught on video showed men trying to snatch the sling pouch of a still unidentified man.
It was not clear if the men were engaged in a shootout, but reports said one of the men fired his firearm in the air.
The scuffle ended when some women and men brought the man whose sling pouch was being snatched outside the polling area.
The incident occurred in front of children.
This prompted deployment of additional special electoral boards at said polling center.
The deployment came after electoral board member-teachers refused to serve at polling centers due to the incident.
Recently, the Office of the Provincial Election Supervisor said three police personnel were deployed in the barangay to serve as special electoral board members.
Peredo Jr. said 71 policemen were trained for election board duties, who manned the polling precincts in Cordillera.
Of these 60 were deployed in Abra and 11 in Kalinga.
Still in Tineg, casting of votes in Lapat Balantay, Tineg, Abra was extended by about five hours after it was disrupted from 8:30 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Monday.
“They should have extended the voting in that barangay (village) until all the voters have voted,” Atty. Mae Richelle Belmes, Abra provincial election officer said in a press conference at the command center of the Provincial Election Monitoring center here.
Belmes said the situation stemmed from a shooting incident around 8:30 a.m. about 500 meters at the back of the voting center in Barangay Lapat Balantay but no added information was given.
”The election officer said the teachers were so afraid and trembling that they refused to resume the voting, but our rules said that the character of the voting in any election should be continuous and uninterrupted. If there is a question that is raised by a watcher, it should form part of the report but there should be no interruption,” she added.
Together with members of Provincial Joint Security Control Center, Belmes immediately brought three police-special electorate board (SEB) using a chopper to replace the teachers and ensure the 258 voters at said precinct would not be disenfranchised.
”Our immediate action was to deploy a substitute. The voting place was located about six hours by walking from the municipal hall. We were able to reach the place in 15 minutes with the help of the Black Hawk of the Philippine Army,” Belmes said.
Despite arrival of the new SEB, Belmes said the teachers refused to resume voting as well as refused to turn over election paraphernalia, even locking them in the ballot box.
”They have declared a failure of election and locked the paraphernalia. It is not within their function because it is only Comelec that can declare a failure of election,” she said.
After hours of negotiation and explanation and upon Comelec’s order to arrest the teachers for violation of the Omnibus Election Code, the three teachers gave in and resumed voting.
Belmes said she ordered the municipal election officer who was accompanied by the Commander of the 102nd Battalion to proceed to Lapat Balantay so there would be a Comelec representative in the area until proceedings were over.
Other incidents
Aside from the incident in Lapat Balantay, Belmes said other issues they recorded were presence of politicians in voting precincts where they are not registered and presence of a lawyer in Lapat Balantay when the problem was at its height, who was peacefully asked to leave the premises.
Belmes said voting in Abra started at 7 a.m. except for Barangay Kalaw in Villaviciosa due to problems with supplies, due to negligence of electoral board.
In Bangued, Abra, Comelec chairperson George Erwin Garcia said the government took full control in Abra during BSK elections on Monday.
“We would like to assure the people of Abra and the entire country that the Comelec is in control, our partners in the PNP (Philippine National Police), AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines), Philippine Army, DepEd (Department of Education), we are in full control of the situation here in Abra and the entire country,” he said in a press conference there.
He said Abra some teachers have been experiencing coercion and 30 of them have resigned as board of election inspectors).
He said the Comelec, PNP, AFP and the DepEd worked as one to ensure voters will be able to vote and to ensure electoral workers, election officials and employees in Abra were safe.
Garcia arrived in Bangued with PNP Chief Gen. Benjamin Acorda Jr. earlier Oct. 29.
Acorda also allayed the fear of teachers who opted to stay and continue to serve in the BSKE.
Acorda said there are 144 police personnel trained to replace teachers who withdrew as BEIs.
Teachers probed
This as the Dept. of Education placed under investigation three Abra teachers who manned the remote polling precinct in Tineg town for declaring a “failure of elections” shortly after a gun was discharged near their school on Monday during the elections.
Army soldiers augmenting security in Abra were the first responders when a Cal.45 pistol was fired about 500 meters from the back of an elementary school at 8:30 a.m. in Tineg “possibly to cause a commotion,” said Army Col. Ferdinand dela Cruz, commander of the 501st Infantry Brigade based in Cagayan Valley.
Except for personnel assigned to protect a voting precinct, the police and soldiers tasked with securing the area must stay a few meters away from poll centers.
Despite all these, Peredo Jr. said the recently concluded BSK elections were generally peaceful despite some incidents particularly in Abra.
Peredo, in press briefing Oct. 30 at regional police headquarters in Camp Dangwa, La Trinidad, Benguet, disclosed eight incidents noted during elections.
There were five verified election-related incidents, two yet to be verified, while another was not election-related. Most incidents took place in Abra.
Peredo added 71 police personnel served as Special Board of Election Inspectors in the region.
From the number, 11 were deployed in Kalinga Province while 60 were stationed in Abra after some teachers withdrew as poll facilitators due to intimidation by still unidentified men.
Peredo added more than 300 candidates in Abra withdrew before the elections.
The total number of candidates was 8,400.
He said one major reason of withdrawal was because of community and family agreements where some of them gave way to their opponents, said to be relatives.
Acorda Jr., had ordered an investigation into reports of rising violence in Abra amid killing of a poll bet as 250 candidates in the Oct. 30 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections in the province backed out from the race.
Acorda said candidates relayed alleged security threats during a recent meeting.
As of Oct. 20, a total of 250 BSKE aspirants had withdrawn their candidacies, according to Belmes.
Most of those who quit were candidates in the SK polls who have relatives holding elective positions in the local government, Belmes said.
These candidates want to avoid disqualification in case they win the BSKE, she said.
Belmes said some candidates running for barangay chairman and kagawad were “forced to quit the race.”
She said without a formal complaint, the poll body could not file a case against anyone who coerced the candidates to withdraw from the BSKE.
The Comelec office in Abra said among those who withdrew from the BSKE were 48 bets for barangay captain, 88 for kagawad, 24 for SK chair and 90 for SK member.
Abra’s capital town Bangued recorded highest number of BSKE candidates who withdrew with 49 followed by Licuaan-Baay with 40 and Tineg with 23.
Of the 27 municipalities in Abra, only three towns –Danglas, Langiden and La Paz – reported no withdrawal from the BSKE.
Comelec Deputy Executive Director for Operations Rafael Olaño, in interview, said withdrawals, which happened over a few weeks, were not due to security issues but mostly voluntary and came following agreement among community elders.
Gov. Dominic Valera and Vice Gov. Ma. Jocelyn Valera-Bernos earlier urged Oct. 14 deployment of more cops in the province amid rising tension following an encounter between policemen and an armed group in Bucay town.
The armed men reportedly knocked on houses to persuade residents to vote for their candidates.
At least 44 teachers reportedly begged off from serving in the BSKE this Oct. 30. – AD with reports from Menchi Kinao, Aldwin Quitasol, Liza Agoot, Jun Elias, Stephanie Sevillano and PNA
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