Manila, May 11: Ten people were killed in outbreaks of violence as millions of Filipinos went to the polls in nationwide elections on Monday, local authorities said.
The latest incident took place just outside the capital of Manila where two people were killed and another was seriously wounded in a clash between a congressman’s security escorts and police, authorities said.
Two of the escorts were shot dead after they confronted policemen in Bacoor town for detaining some of the congressman’s supporters, said provincial police chief Senior Superintendent Primitivo Tabujara.
One policeman was seriously wounded and two other escorts were arrested, he said.
It was unclear who started the shooting with both sides giving conflicting versions.
“This is one case that has to be thoroughly investigated,” said national police spokesman Chief Superintendent Leonardo Espina.
Elsewhere, three people were shot dead and 10 others wounded when police clashed with supporters of a mayoral candidate in the southern province of Zamboanga Sibugay before dawn, said a local military spokesman
The cause of the clash was unclear but the police were ordered back to their stations, Captain Arnold Gasalatan said, adding the military had secured the area pending an investigation.
In the strife-torn southern province of Maguindanao, two men were killed as the armed followers of two rival politicians engaged in a gunbattle, according to national military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Arnulfo Burgos.
One of the dead was identified as a member of an armed group, he said.
In another incident in the south, a cousin of the vice governor in North Cotabato province was gunned down while he was riding on a motorcycle before polls opened, regional police said.
He and another man on the motorbike were ambushed by suspected gunmen of a rival candidate in Kidapawan town, according to a police statement. The other man was wounded but his injuries were not life threatening.
In Kapai town, also in the south, the son of a candidate shot a man, said provincial police chief Senior Superintendent Panares Adap.
On the western island of Palawan, a clash between supporters of two rival mayoral candidates left one person dead and another wounded, a police report said.
—-PTI