BY LISA ITO
BULATLAT
ELECTION WATCH/ BREAKING NEWS
May 16, 2007 – 3:20 p.m.

NUEVA ECIJA, PHILIPPINES—Foreign observers visiting the town of Guimba, Nueva Ecija are now in the middle of a scuffle between supporters of a mayoralty candidate bent on defying Commission on Elections (Comelec) orders and military troops.

According to reports from the Peoples International Observers Mission (IOM) team in Nueva Ecija, about 500 people have already massed up to defy Comelec control in Guimba town in support of mayoralty candidate Angel Santos of Lakas-CMD.

Santos went to file an election protest at 2 p.m. today. His supporters jumped over the walls of the Guimba town hall, rushed past the gates, and assembled in front of the hall by 2:27 p.m.

As of this writing, soldiers have already closed the glass front gate entrance of the Guimba town hall to prevent the mob of people led by Santos from entering the building, foreign observer Rev. Larry Emery said.

The crowd cheered and taunted as a V-150 tank manned by soldiers trained its guns on them, Emery’s team reported.

Guimba, a first-class municipality in the province of Nueva Ecija, has 56,608 registered voters for the 2007 elections. (Bulatlat.com)

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