COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Deadly violence erupted across Cotabato City just hours before and as polling opened Monday, prompting the Commission on Elections to place all 37 barangays under its direct control during the Bangsamoro parliamentary elections.
The series of incidents late Sunday and early Monday left six people dead and at least 17 wounded, according to police and local officials.
The dead included three men killed in a late-night shooting in Barangay Bagua 2, one man killed in an explosion in Barangay Kalanganan, and two men who later died from gunshot wounds sustained in a shootout at a polling site.
The most serious attack happened shortly before midnight Sunday near the Datu Usman Mampen Elementary School in Barangay Bagua 2.
Three men — brothers Caril Abdul Lumidsog and Bain Abdul Lumidsog, and Idar Kasan Andog — were killed when gunmen opened fire on a group checking reports of armed men near the school.
Another 15 people were wounded in the attack, according to Capt. Steffie Salanguit, spokesperson for the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, and Cotabato City Police Office director Col. Jibin Bongcayao.
Barangay chairman Fahad Singh said the three slain men and the wounded villagers were his companions.
Singh said they had gone with volunteer community watchmen to check reports of gunmen near the school when the attackers, armed with assault rifles, suddenly opened fire.
The wounded were rushed to different hospitals for treatment.
About two hours earlier, an explosion tore through a residential area in Purok Amirol in Mother Barangay Kalanganan, killing Zainodin Sapal Macabuat.
Local officials said residents were circulating reports that Macabuat had been carrying a fragmentation grenade that he was reportedly planning to take elsewhere when it exploded accidentally. He suffered severe shrapnel wounds to his torso and died from his injuries.
Violence continued after polling stations opened Monday.
A shootout at Cotabato City Central Elementary School left two men identified with a political party dead from gunshot wounds. One of their companions was wounded, while an on-duty police officer was also shot in the right leg.
The two wounded men and the other victims were taken to hospital, where the two men later died, according to personnel of the Cotabato City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office.
The string of incidents prompted Comelec officials in the Bangsamoro region and Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia to place Cotabato City under Comelec control.
Garcia and regional election officials were quoted in local radio reports as saying Maluso town in Basilan was also placed under Comelec control because of violent incidents linked to the parliamentary elections.
The heightened security operation brought together police units from the Bangsamoro region and Regions 11 and 12, personnel from the Navy’s 6th Marine Battalion under the 1st Marine Brigade, and soldiers from the Army’s 6th Infantry Division.
They jointly secured polling locations throughout Cotabato City as voters cast ballots in the parliamentary elections of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
Cotabato City serves as the regional capital, although it is geographically outside the BARMM territory. The autonomous region covers Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi, along with the cities of Lamitan and Marawi.
The violence in Cotabato City contrasted sharply with conditions in nearby areas.
Officials reported that voting in the neighboring Maguindanao del Norte towns of Sultan Kudarat and Datu Odin Sinsuat proceeded in an orderly and peaceful manner.
For Cotabato City, however, election day began under a heavy security presence after a night of killings, an explosion and a school shootout raised fears over the safety of voters and election workers.
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