Gunmen attempt to burn down school in Pikit

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines -- Gunmen attempted but failed to burn down a public school in one of a dozen barangays in Pikit town where special barangay elections were held Friday.

Captain Tony Bulao, spokesman of the Army’s 602nd Brigade, said the group that tried to set on fire an elementary school in Barangay Bago Inged is identified with a candidate for barangay chairman, who wants the elections deferred to a later date.

Bulao said the gunmen arrived at the school campus past 2 a.m. Friday and tried to burn the two-classroom building in Bago Inged Elementary School using kerosene and dried coconut palms.

The suspects hurriedly escaped after lighting with matches the kerosene they poured around the school building.

“But villagers managed to respond promptly and put off the fire before it could destroy the building,” Bulao said.

Barangay Bago Inged in the west of Pikit is one of a dozen barangays where special barangay elections were held Friday.

The Pikit municipal police said the arsonists escaped towards the 220,000-hectare Liguasan Delta, a known lair of criminal gangs, some of them engaged in extortion and kidnap-for-ransom activities.

Elections in Barangay Bago Inged went on as scheduled despite the bungled arson attempt, according to Bulao.

More than a hundred policemen from outside of Central Mindanao administered the special barangay elections in the 12 barangays of Pikit, supposedly scheduled October 28, but reset to Friday due to security reasons and misunderstanding among voters on the venue of the  polls.