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Untoward
incidents related to the elections have spoiled what the law
enforcers described as relatively peaceful and clean conduct
of elections last Monday.
In
Candijay town, an improvised bomb using two acytelene tanks
was uncovered early morning yesterday inside the rice mill
owned by Mayor Sergio Amora. This was bared by information
officer Judith Villamor in a phone interview.
She
said that the acytelene tanks discovered by the mill caretaker,
whom Villamor did not identify, was connected to electric
circuit switch box of the rice mill located at barangay Poblacion,
she said.
Villamor
quoted police reports to have confirmed the existence of the
improvised bomb. Investigators speculated the bomb was intended
to blow up the mill. She added that many Candijay people believe
that the attempt of Amora's opponents was a desperate move
since they are losing in the polls.
Amora
faced contender former Mayor Monina Cimagala Camacho in the
return bout last Monday.
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On
the same vein, lawyer Antonino Jumawid, who tried his
reelection bid as councilor of Batuan town, told the
Chronicle that based on reports he received from his
supporters, some members of the Citizens Armed Forces
Geographical Unit (CAFGU) were allegedly used by their
opponents as bodyguards.
He
said the reports, reaching their camp on election day,
bared that these para-military men accompanied by troopers
of the 302nd brigade "bodily searched" voters
who were on their way to the precincts in barangay Rizal.
He said that the conduct of the search may have something
to do with the voting, if not intimidated the voters.
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The
accusation was denied by brigade commander Col. Jessie Dellosa
in a cell phone interview yesterday. He said it was not true
that his men together with CAFGU men were used as bodyguards
of mayoralty candidate Pepito. Pepito threw her hat for the
second time against former Mayor Necitas Dumagan. Jumawid
ran under Necitas' group.
He
said that he checked this after he received the report but
found no such incident, saying that what his men did was to
secure some areas that yielded peaceful elections.
In
Garcia-Hernandez town, some residents watching the canvassing
of votes on Monday night reported that some policemen entered
into the area where the counting was going on and got their
tally for their "favored" candidates.
The
Chronicle spotted two policemen just got the election result
inside the area in barangay Canayaon of this town and a few
minutes after fled away on board a single motorcycle.
Also
in this limestone-rich town, some voters voiced complaints
over their missing names in the list posted in every precinct
at the gymnasium for barangay Manaba voters. Some of them,
later on, were able to vote after they checked with the master
list of Comelec office. (RVO)
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