At least nine people were killed and several others were wounded in election-related violence across the country during yesterday’s midterm polls.
The Philippines has a long history of election violence, with armed groups of political rivals routinely fighting over positions that control local government spending.
Despite the cases of poll-related violence, Commission on Elections chairman George Garcia said the elections can still be considered “generally peaceful.”
“Overall, the situation has been satisfactory and relatively peaceful. The deployment of our election materials was timely, all polling centers have opened, and many individuals took advantage of the early voting hours,” Garcia said.
Philippine National Police chief Gen. Rommel Marbil agreed: “Very peaceful. And we arrested those who tried to disrupt the polls.”
The PNP has been on alert for more than a week, and around 163,000 officers have been deployed to secure polling stations, escort election officials and guard checkpoints.
The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) conceded that the midterm elections appeared “a little more peaceful” compared to previous polls.
“If we compare it to 2022 and 2019 — just qualitative, until we get the final reports — it seems that the conduct of the election was a little more peaceful,” PPCRV spokesperson Ana Singson said.
Fatality count
• Even before the poll precincts opened, three people, including a poll watcher, were killed while two others were wounded in a predawn boat clash near Hadji Muhtamad town in Basilan Monday. The fatalities – poll watcher Murasidul Kidong Abduarahman and supporters Samier Allil Jamiri and Ben Bakil – were aboard a motorboat with mayoral candidate Jamar Mansul’s convoy when the clash happened near Sangbay Big Island at about 1:45 a.m. Police chief Maj. Nursaibar Mahadi said his seaborne patrol team engaged eight armed men who refused to stop for inspection, noting three jumped overboard.
• As polls opened, two men were killed and seven wounded in the central Philippines when men fired on a group outside a local party headquarters from a moving vehicle in Mambulac, Silay City, Negros Occidental
• At least three persons were killed in separate incidents of electoral violence in Lanao del Sur on Monday, authorities said. A candidate for municipal councilor, Afganie Balt Taha, and a barangay chairman’s brother, Walid Balt Taha, were shot dead by unidentified armed men three hours after the polling center opened in Barangay Sumbag while Arafat Harin Iskak was killed in Barangay Madaya.
• One man, identified only as “Samsodin,” was killed and another in Zamboanga del Sur after an armed group reportedly harassed a rival political group in Barangay Guinicolalay, Dinas, Zamboanga del Sur.
Meanwhile, voters at a polling station in the village of Sagap, Bangued, Abra province also ran for their safety while one person was injured as successive gunfire burst in the vicinity while people were waiting to vote.
The PNP has yet to give a final tally of the fatalities during yesterday’s midterm polls.
But PNP public information office chief Col. Randulf Tuaño said a total 16 people were killed in 46 validated election-related incidents since the start of the election period on January 12, 2025.
He said the PNP has yet to validate 31 suspected election-related incidents.
Soaring heat, hotter contest
Millions of Filipinos braved long lines and soaring temperatures Monday to vote in an election largely defined by the explosive feud between President Ferdinand Marcos and impeached Vice President Sara Duterte.
Yesterday’s election will decide more than 18,000 posts, from seats in the House of Representatives to hotly contested municipal offices.
It is the battle for the Senate, however, that carries potentially major implications.
The 12 senators to win in Monday’s polls will form half the jury in an impeachment trial of Duterte later this year that could see her permanently barred from public office.
Duterte’s long-running feud with former ally Marcos erupted in February when she was impeached by the House for alleged “high crimes,” including corruption and an assassination plot against the president.
Barely a month later, her father — former president Rodrigo Duterte — was arrested and sent to the International Criminal Court in The Hague to face a charge of crimes against humanity over his deadly drug crackdown.
The Vice President will need nine votes in the 24-seat Senate to preserve any hope of a future presidential run. With AFP