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Date: 17 October 2010
Source: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=621755&publicationSubCategoryId=200

Government condemns killing of village chief
(philstar.com) Updated October 17, 2010 04:45 PM Comments (0)

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) – The government condemned the slaying today of a village chairman up for re-election in Malabon City, Metro Manila, reiterating its assurance that the national police have received presidential directives to stop the incidence of violence related to next week’s local elections.

Maximo Bernardo, a village chairman, had just came out from a church and was heading home when unknown gunmen approached and shot him in the head at close range, police said, adding that he was rushed to a hospital by local residents but was proclaimed dead by attending physicians upon arrival.

“We condemn any form of electoral violence,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said in an interview with state-run radio Radyo ng Bayan when asked to comment on the fate of Bernardo.

President Benigno Aquino III “has already directed PNP (Philippine National Police) Chief (Raul) Bacalzo to investigate any alleged electoral violence and to step up its efforts to prevent such incidents from happening from hereon,” Valte added.

The Philippines is preparing for its local village elections to be held on Oct. 25, where over 300,000 positions for village councils, the smallest administrative divisions, are up for grabs. The country is composed of at least 42,000 villages.

Elections in the country, whether local or national, are often marred by political violence, fraud and disenfranchisement, with warlords and more than one million loose firearms often playing major roles in election results.