Village election violence leaves 25 killed, 48 hurt

Manila: Twenty-five people were killed and 48 injured since campaign for yesterday's village election started, officials said.

Voters elected yesterday candidates for nearly 672,000 posts that included village chiefs and young representatives for 42,000 villages nationwide, officials said. Voter turnout was 60 per cent of the 51 million registered voters.

Those killed in the clashes included five candidates for village chairman, two candidates for village councillor, seven incumbent village officials, three government officials and eight civilians, said Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Director General Avelino Razon.

Among the wounded were four candidates for village chief, one candidate for village councilor, six incumbent village officials and nine bystanders, Razon said. There were 43 election-related incidents that occurred since the start of the campaign on September 29, Razon said, adding that a candidate for village chairman has remained missing following his abduction.

"The village elections were relatively peaceful," the PNP said the end of yesterday's polls.

But the PNP deployed additional 5,000 policemen in 4,355 villages nationwide, which were identified as hot spots. Some 325 people including eight policemen and two soldiers were arrested for violating the gun ban that came into effect on September 29.

- With additional inputs by Rafael Juan, Correspondent