MANILA: A total of 51 people were killed and 65 others wounded in 81 poll-related incidents since the start of the election period, police said yesterday.
The number of fatalities was slightly lower than the 56 recorded in the same period in 2007 and 54 in 2010, police data showed.
The number of wounded persons also went down slightly from 69 in 2007 and 74 in 2010. The figures covered incidents from Jan. 13, the start of the gun ban, until the May 13 election.
Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesman Chief Superintendent Generoso Cerbo Jr said the figures could still change as they are still receiving reports from the field.
However, Cerbo believes this year’s election was more peaceful than the previous polls.
“Comparatively, the 2013 election was safer and less bloody,” Cerbo said in a press briefing in Camp Crame. A total of 147 people figured in the 81 violent incidents, 33 of them unharmed.
Of the 51 fatalities this year, 33 were elected officials, 14 were supporters of politicians, two soldiers, one was a candidate and one a policeman. Forty of the wounded were civilians, 15 were incumbent officials, eight soldiers, one was a policeman and one was a candidate.
A huge majority of the violent incidents involved shooting while four were explosions. There were two incidents each of ambush, grenade throwing, strafing, harassment and other forms of violence like stabbing and physical injury.
PNP said 62 of the 81 poll-related incidents are still under investigation, while 19 have been referred to the prosecutor’s office.
The violent incidents this year seem to be scattered across the regions. The region with highest incidence of election violence was Calabarzon with nine, followed by Western Visayas and Zamboanga peninsula with eight each.
The Philippine Star
