GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/09 May) — A grenade exploded in Cotabato City on Monday, but the Police Regional Office (PRO)-12 declared the conduct of Monday’s general elections in parts of the region was generally smooth, orderly and peaceful.
Supt. Romeo Galgo Jr., PRO-12 public information officer, said they have not recorded any other major incident in the region aside from the grenade blast.
A police report said a bystander was killed when a grenade earlier exploded at a market in Cotabato City.
“Other than that, the region was generally peaceful and the voting was relatively smooth and orderly based on our monitoring,” he told MindaNews in a phone interview.
Galgo said some polling precincts even closed much earlier than the 5 p.m. closing time as residents turned up early to cast their votes.
PRO-12 has jurisdiction over the provinces of South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and North Cotabato, and the cities of General Santos, Koronadal, Tacurong, Kidapawan, and Cotabato.
The Commission on Elections-Region 12 also covers the area except for Cotabato City, which is under the Comelec in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Galgo said all their police personnel assigned at the polling precincts and other strategic areas will remain in their posts until after the counting and transmission of votes.
The regional police office earlier activated provincial, municipal and regional election monitoring action centers that serve as information hubs in relation to the conduct of election.
It also deployed some 590 police personnel from the regional office to augment the manpower needs of local police stations. (MindaNews)