Comelec sounds alarm over pre-poll violence

THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday expressed  alarm over violent incidents involving elected officials even as it insisted that not all of the clashes were related to elections or to next year’s local and national polls.

“We are hoping to schedule a command conference with the PNP [Philippine National Police] as early as possible... But we want to be careful also before putting a label on such [incidents] because we don’t like to create an impression of violence when in fact there is none,” Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said.