More Election-related Violence Reported As Polls Near

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - Election related violence continues in the Philippines ahead of this month's village polls, state authorities reported Thursday.

The military said four people were hurt when gunmen ambushed a convoy of election workers in southern Philippines early Thursday.

Poll election officer Pangalian Lumabao could be the target of the attack in a village in Tangkal town, in Mindanao's Lanao del Norte province as he sustained multiple gunshot wounds, Major Arnold Gasalatan, spokesperson of the army's 1st Infantry Division, said.

Gasalatan said the attack happened past 9 a.m. as Lumabao and five other workers for the local Commission on Elections were traveling a village road in a vehicle when armed men fired at them. The poll officer, one of his armed escorts and two others were hit by bullets and sustained wounds.

Gunmen also shot and killed a candidate for village chairmanship, Aquilino Gutierrez, in the township of Candelaria, Quezon province on Wednesday night. He died on the spot due to multiple bullet wounds in his body.

The victim's close friend, Mamerto Briones, told a local radio station they were about to discuss campaign issues in their house when a gunman approached and opened fire on Gutierrez.

The country prepares for its local village polls to be held on Oct. 25 when over 300,000 positions for the barangay or village council, the smallest administrative division heads are up for grabs. The Philippines is composed of at least 42,000 barangays, or villages.

Elections in the country, whether for local or national positions, are often marred by political violence, fraud and disenfranchisement, with warlords and more than a million loose firearms often playing major roles in election results.

Manila Bulletin