National polls opened in the Philippines on Monday morning amid reports of scattered violence that killed seven people, with more than 200,000 security officers on high alert. The final pre-election opinion polls showed incumbent President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who strongly backs the US war on terror, pulling ahead of film star Fernando Poe Jr, whose best friend Joseph Estrada lost the job in disgrace three years ago. But the polls also indicated that as many as one-quarter of the electorate were undecided.
A grenade attack killed two people and wounded another outside the campaign headquarters of a mayoralty candidate in suburban Caloocan in metropolitan Manila late on Sunday, said police director Marcelino Franco. No suspects were arrested, he said. There were no immediate details available about who had been killed. In southern Zambonga del Norte province, men opened fire on the convoy of a mayoralty candidate late on Sunday afternoon, killing three supporters and wounding three more, the military said. In a separate attack in the nearby town of Tampilisan early on Monday, gunmen killed two supporters of yet another mayoralty candidate. Election officials also reported an explosion that set off a fire that gutted portions of a building and destroyed election documents in the central town of Taft in Eastern Samar province.
| Just your normal Philippine election. |
Reports of abductions and election law violations also ushered in the voting that began at 7am local time (2300 GMT on Sunday). Elections director Ferdinand Rafanan said tens of thousands of election campaign documents loaded in two vans were confiscated by police in the region. Police were also checking reports of vote-buying in one area, he said.
| SEE: normal Philippine election |
National police spokesman Chief Superintendent Joel Goltiao said the authorities were looking into two reports of abductions of followers of local candidates, including a supporter of a mayoralty candidate in Rodriguez town in Rizal, east of here. Officials say it could take a month before final results are announced because of a lack of computerised voting. One pollster plans to release the results of an exit poll on Tuesday. Mrs Arroyo’s administration and Mr Poe’s camp have accused each other of plots to steal the election, either by cheating or violence. About 230,000 troops and police took up positions before the polls opened to secure polling precincts and guard against violence or terrorist attacks. Last month, police said they broke up a terror cell, foiling what they said were planned bombing attacks in the capital. Also up for grabs are 12 of the nation’s 24 Senate seats and all seats in the House of Representatives, and some 17,000 other posts all the way down to the neighbourhood level. |