Camp Apolinario, Panacan, Davao City (10 May) — Soldiers recovered an Improvised Explosive Devise (IED) planted by New People’s Army (NPA) on a bridge in the village of Maligaya in Columbio town in Sultan Kudarat province 10:30 AM Sunday.

Residents said they saw armed men below Mauno Bridge which prompted them to inform soldiers of the 27th Infantry Battalion headed by Lt. Col. Joshua Santiago who immediately responded. Soldiers discovered a hastily laid IED on the side of the bridge indicating that the NPAs may have immediately left upon seeing the soldiers coming.

Santiago said they also received information regarding IEDs planted by NPAs in other parts of Columbio town. “We are currently verifying those reports to clear those places of IEDs planted by NPAs so that our people will be safe from harm.” Santiago added.

Davao City (10 May) — Regional election Officer Rey Somalipao bared a 45 percent voters turn-out in the region, as of 2 this afternoon.

He said that voters flocked to voting precincts so early that they waited for hours just to be accommodated and to cast their vote.

“They even arrived earlier than the Board of election inspectors,” he said.

More from PIA

DAVAO CITY–Foreign observers said they’re aware that Filipinos will be braving bullets and bribes in today’s first ever automated elections but hope that their presence will deter electoral fraud.

“I am here to observe, to monitor and to report what I see,” said Lawyer Radhika Sainath, a civil rights lawyer from Los Angeles, California. “Filipinos will be braving bullets, bribes and voting machine breakdowns to make their voices hear,” she said. “We hope that our presence will help deter and expose any potential election-day fraud.”

More from Davao Today

MATI CITY, Davao Oriental, Philippines—Heavy downpour hampered some voters from going to the polling precincts here Monday morning.

In the polling places, there were reports of poll counting optical scan machines malfunctioning.

There were also reports of vote-buying in the town of Lupon, with votes for certain candidates priced at P1,000 and three kilograms of rice.

Commission on Election regional director Rey Somalipao confirmed that less than 10 percent of the PCOS machines in the region conked out.

With 3,431 PCOS machines distributed region-wide, about 300 of which did not function during the start of election this morning.

Common cause is the battery load that leads to the conking of machines.

In Davao City, Smartmatic confirmed that they replaced five PCOS machines as of 1pm.

DIGOS CITY, Davao Del Sur, Philippines—Clustered precincts in the village of Colorado here are jampacked with voters.

Voting was smooth except for some ballots being rejected by the machines. It was learned that the ballots were stained as they were being shaded.

In Cagayan De Oro City, voting at a precinct at the Gusa Elementary School was slow with the board of election inspectors giving out priority numbers to people.

After an hour after the precinct opened, only 32 people have voted. Senior citizens and pregnant women were allowed to vote first.