Explosions rock Maguindanao on eve of elections

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines - Powerful explosions rocked three Maguindanao towns Sunday night, but the bombings did not hamper the conduct of Monday’s elections in the affected towns.

A farmer, Habiri Katapukan, was killed on the spot when a 40-millimeter shoulder-fire projectile, fired from a distance, hit his shanty in west of Datu Unsay town in Maguindanao.

Rifle grenades also landed in isolated areas in Maguindanao’s Shariff Aguak and Pagalungan towns.

Shariff Aguak, the former capital of the province, is the hometown of the Ampatuan clan.

Partisans also fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a school in Pagalungan, just as the town’s reelectionist mayor, Salik Mamasabulod, was to cast his vote in one of the classrooms in the same campus.

The grenade attacks at Datu Unsay prompted the police and military to tighten security in the municipality to prevent possible disruption of the conduct of elections there.

Investigators said gunmen identified with one of two aspirants for Datu Unsay’s mayoral post were responsible for the bombings.

Three followers of a mayoral candidate in Mamasapano town were hurt when gunmen, reportedly led by a key suspect in the infamous Nov. 23, 2009 Maguindanao Massacre, shot them with assault rifles.

Two men also attacked with wooden clubs a voter identified with the same candidate while on his way to a polling precinct in Barangay Manongkaling in Mamasapano.

The victim, who was badly injured in the attack, was rushed to a nearby hospital for medication by responding barangay officials and policemen.

A child was killed when two groups supporting different mayoral candidates clashed inside the campus of the Tambunan Elementary School in Guindulungan town in the second district of Maguindanao.

Someone from the two groups fired a gun, hitting the child while running away from the scene.

Col. Romeo Brawner, commander of the Task Force Clean, Honest, Orderly and Peaceful Elections of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said soldiers were able to respond promptly to all of the violent incidents, preventing escalation of hostilities.

He said the heavy presence of soldiers and policemen in politically troubled areas in Maguindanao helped stave off election-related violence.

The Commission on Elections is “on top of the situation” in Maguindanao, Brawner pointed out.