BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines – Last Saturday’s special barangay elections in three typhoon-hit coastal towns of Isabela turned out to be generally peaceful, contrary to fears of violence following the recent killing of a candidate for village chief.
The barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan polls in the towns of Palanan, Maconacon and Divilacan were postponed to last Saturday due to the devastation wreaked by typhoon “Juan” last Oct. 19, or barely a week before the scheduled elections.
Isabela election supervisor Manuel Castillo said that except for minor hitches like shortage of ballots in some precincts in Palanan, the special elections there and in the two other towns went smoothly, with a reported high voter turnout.
Two days before the special polls in Palanan, Alexander Salazar, a candidate for barangay chairman, was killed in a reported shootout with his rival, Wilmer Atienza, the incumbent village chief. Salazar’s companion, Ladislao Lanioza Jr., was also slain in the incident.
In Tarlac, special elections were also held in two barangays in Paniqui town last Saturday.
The polls in Barangays Salumague and San Isidro were postponed due to heavy flooding in schools that would serve as polling centers last Oct. 25.
– With Ric Sapnu