Gun fires, VCM grabbing mar voting in Basilan

ISABELA CITY, Basilan — Burst of gun fires rocked three separate towns in Basilan minutes after the voting open Monday sending fear-gripped residents to scamper for safety, local security officials said.

Shooting erupted between armed supporters of two rival candidates in an island barangay of Tabuan Lasa town as voting begun almost the same hour when the incident in Sumisip erupted, said Col. Pedro Martirez, Basilan Provincial Police Office (BPPO) director said.

Martirez said the incident occurred about 7a.m. when the supporters of Boloh-Boloh barangay chairperson Jahid Abbas and Alfad Farouk, who is running for councilor, crossed paths in the vicinity of Boloh-Boloh Elementary School.

He said the two groups exchanged fire for two minutes, sending voters to disperse and scampered and went home for fear of getting hit into the crossfire.

No one was reported casualty from both sides, according to Martirez.

He said based on the initial investigation disclosed that Farouk reportedly first opened fire that prompted Abbas to return fire.

“Farouk allegedly got jealous over the number of supporters of Abbas,” Martirez said as he led a team on a police speedboat to pacify and ease the tension.

Unidentified armed men strafed their firearms indiscriminately past 7a.m minutes before the vote counting machine (VCM) and official ballots arrived in the polling centers in some barangays in Sumisip town, said Brig. Gen. Domingo Godway, commander of Joint Task Force Basilan (JTFB) and 101st Infantry Brigade.

No one was reported hurt from the incident as police and military personnel quickly responded to secure the area as polling started without hitches, Gobway said.

Gobway personally led the forces in securing the area said the firing aimed to terrorize the people to discourage them from voting.

Meanwhile, police authorities fired warning shots and prevented a group of people from snatching the VCM and the box of official ballots in Tipo-tipo town.