| Injured | Killed |
|---|---|
| 0 | 0 |
Date: 14 August 2010
Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/davao/grenade-blast-rocks-kidapawan
KIDAPAWAN CITY — A powerful grenade explosion rocked a Moro-dominated village in this city while residents were preparing for Ramadan or Islamic month of fasting around 10 p.m. Thursday.
The grenade exploded inside the compound of Barangay Patadon near the house of village councilor Satar Manalundong, police reports said.
No one was hurt in the incident, but the splinters hit the gate and the front portion of Manalundong’s house and nearby farmers’ hall.
Manalundong said they were busy preparing food for their fasting the next day when they heard a loud explosion.
He hinted the incident was related to the voters’ registration at the Commission on elections (Comelec) for the scheduled barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) polls on October this year.
The bombing took place hours after Manalundong had a heated altercation with the village chair, Inday Patadon, inside the Comelec office in the city.
He got irked when Patadon refused to issue barangay certification to three of his relatives so they could register at the Comelec, saying they were not natives of the place.
Manalundong told the Comelec that many of Patadon’s supporters who were able to register last Thursday at the Comelec were not residents of the village but had come from Barangay Dinaig in Datu Odin Sinsuat town in 0Maguindanao.
Manalundong had asked the Comelec to exclude the so-called “unscrupulous” voters from the list, which earned the ire of Patadon.
Both Inday Patadon and Manalundong have their own candidates for the barangay elections this October.
Patadon denied the accusations hurled against her that she was behind the grenade explosion and instead accused the village councilor of staging it himself.
“It wasn’t me. It was him that lobbed the grenade to show that somebody was after him. I was told Manalundong failed to deliver the number of voters needed for the registration. It was because I did not allow his supporters, which are not residents of the village, to register at the Comelec. He has gotten funds from a city councilor here for the registration,” said Patadon in her native dialect.
City election registrar Diosdado Javier said if there are questions as to the legitimacy of the voters who registered this week, they must file a petition for exclusion at the Comelec.
Police are still clueless as to the identity of the suspects. They are also studying the possibility that the explosion was related to the ongoing registration at the poll body. (Malu C. Manar)