Philippine police yesterday said that the country’s overall situation ahead of today’s general election remained “relatively peaceful,” despite some shooting incidents and other poll-related offenses that they consider to be isolated.
Filipinos are today to vote to choose Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s successor, a vice president, 12 senators, hundreds of representatives and thousands of governors, mayors and provincial and city councilors.
The presidential election is shaping up as a rematch between Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr, the son and namesake of the country’s late dictator, and incumbent Philippine Vice President Leni Robredo, a human rights lawyer who narrowly beat him in the 2016 vice presidential contest.
Photo: Reuters
Three months of divisive campaigning ended on Saturday, with Marcos and Robredo making last-ditch bids to sway undecided voters with patriotic, upbeat messages.
“One day before the conduct of the actual election, we are considering our preparation and the situation as relatively peaceful,” Philippine National Police spokesperson Jean Fajardo told a news conference.
The police have recorded 16 election-related offenses since the campaign season began, including two cases of shooting incidents between supporters of rival local candidates in Nueva Ecija and Ilocos Sur provinces, she said.
“These are good indicators, these are good numbers,” Fajardo said, comparing the police data with the 133 recorded cases during the 2016 general election and the 60 recorded cases during the 2019 midterm polls.
The police also recorded more than 3,000 arrests related to an election ban on carrying firearms, also substantially lower because of what Fajardo described as an intensive campaign to confiscate loose firearms that could be used by private armed groups.
The final campaign push ended without Duterte endorsing a presidential candidate, but his political party is backing Marcos and Duterte’s daughter Sara Duterte-Carpio.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
As the sun sets on another scorching Yangon day, the hot and bothered descend on the Myanmar city’s parks, the coolest place to spend an evening during yet another power blackout. A wave of exceptionally hot weather has blasted Southeast Asia this week, sending the mercury to 45°C and prompting thousands of schools to suspend in-person classes. Even before the chaos and conflict unleashed by the military’s 2021 coup, Myanmar’s creaky and outdated electricity grid struggled to keep fans whirling and air conditioners humming during the hot season. Now, infrastructure attacks and dwindling offshore gas reserves mean those who cannot afford expensive diesel
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in