MANILA< April 19 (dpa): Violence broke out on Tuesday during a campaign event for a labour leader running to replace Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, the candidate and police said.
Five people were wounded.
Leody De Guzman, one of 10 presidential candidates in the May 9 elections, and two senatorial candidates were not harmed in the incident in the town of Quezon in Bukidnon province, 886 kilometres south of Manila.
They were meeting with tribal community members, farmers and land activists in an ancestral land of the Manobo tribe in Bukidnon, when a private security guard allegedly opened fire at them.
"The first gunshot hit the person right beside me,” De Guzman told a news television show. "I hope I was not the target.”
A police report said the tribal community members "forcibly entered the premises” of a pineapple company, prompting the shooting incident.
De Guzman said the land was allegedly illegally taken over by the town’s mayor, Pablo Lorenzo III, who denied any knowledge of the incident or having a private army.
Lorenzo said he was checking with police about the incident, since he was also campaigning when the incident happened.
Presidential spokesperson Martin Andanar condemned the incident.
"Violence has no place in any civilized society and we condemn the incident in Bukidnon, where gunshots were allegedly fired against the camp of Ka Leody,” he said. "We urge the local authorities to conduct a thorough investigation and prosecute those behind this dastardly act."
Elections in the Philippines are often marred by violence and allegations of cheating.
Filipino voters will elect a new president, vice president, 12 senators and more than 18,000 local positions in next month’s elections. - dpa
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