At least 12 men, who were carrying 12 firearms, were arrested by Abra police in Barangay Laskig in Pidigan, Abra on Sunday, according to the report of Jonathan Andal on “24 Oras weekend.”
The police came across the men arguing on the side of the road.
One of the angles the police is looking into is that the suspects are part of an armed group.
Lt. Col. Daniel Pel-ey, Abra Police PIO, said he found the incident alarming.
“Pero, at least, sa awa ng Diyos nahuli ang mga ‘yan para makuha na natin at hindi pa magamit ng mga nasabing mga tao,” he said.
(But, at least, with the mercy of God they were arrested and will not be used by some people.)
In a separate incident, in Bangued, two persons were arrested for alleged vote-selling.
They were found to have 5,000 pesos in their possession and another item that had a line up of one political party.
“Napag-utusan lang po ako ng uncle ko na kunin yung para sa kanya dahil hindi siya makapunta sa Bangued,” said one suspect.
(I was just instructed by my uncle to get what was meant for him because he could not travel to Bangued.)
Another suspect said, she picked up the money for her husband, who needs medicine because of an illness.
According to Abra police, there are 31 recorded shooting incidents from the start of the election period on Jan. 12 up to May 11, 2025:
- 6 election-related incidents
- 21 deaths
- 8 cases filed
- 31 confiscated firearms
Abra is one of the provinces in the country with a history of violence during elections, so heightended security is in place.
There are 500 Abra police personnel and augmented with 200 while 5 police officers will serve as special electoral board in four schools because some teachers backed out, but this was not due to concerns of security. Some of the teachers said some schools are too far and it would take them two days to travel to some polling centers.
Some teachers have personal reasons, there is no signal in some areas in Abra, so Starlink will be used to transmit the votes on Election Day. However, as of Sunday, there are still two polling centers that are not yet connected to Starlink said Comelec Abra.
— BAP, GMA Integrated News
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12 men suspected to be part of a private armed group, arrested in Abra
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