Number of ERVIs now at 25 -- AFP

From the Philippine News Agency (May 10): Number of ERVIs now at 25 -- AFP

The number of election-related violent incidents (ERVIs) recorded by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has climbed to 25 as of Monday.

This was disclosed by AFP public affairs office chief Col. Noel Detoyato in a statement Tuesday.

Included in the ERVIs tally was the incident involving two troopers of the 9th Infantry Division who were ambushed and wounded while deployed for Monday's election duty in Matnog, Sorsogon.

The incident took place around 3:35 p.m., Detoyato said.

Government troops were aboard one KM-450 truck which was escorted by one V-150 "Commando" armored personnel carrier when mined and fired upon by 10 New People's Army (NPA) rebels.

The rebels retreated after a four-minute firefight.

The wounded were identified as 2nd Lt. Ariel P. Cayton and Sgt. Jovintino C. Cerafica and was quickly taken to the Irosin Municipal Hospital for medical treatment.

Detoyato said military is already conducting pursuit operations to hunt down the perpetrators.

Meanwhile, one civilian was killed while another was wounded in separate shooting incidents in Maguindanao and Zamboanga Sibugay.

The first shooting incident took place at Barangay Pageda, Talitay, Maguindanao at 8:34 p.m. Sunday when a still unidentified gunman shot and killed 29-year-old certain Bayan Buisan.

In the second incident, 63-year-old Serafin Crisostomo was shot and wounded on May 8 when four motorcycle-riding suspects unidentified armed men strafed a waiting shed near the home of Barangay Sta. Maria chair Amenardo S. Malinao in Alicia town, Zamboanga Sibugay.

Crisostomo and Malinao along with five others were talking in a waiting shed when four men aboard two motorcycles, appeared out of nowhere and fired on the group, hitting the former.

Troopers from the 44th Infantry Battalion quickly assisted their Alicia police counterparts.

On Monday, the AFP recorded 22 ERVIs which translated to 10 deaths and three wounded with most of the incident being recorded in the Western Mindanao Command area-of-responsibility.

This is from midnight to 2:00 p.m. Monday.

With these figures, the number of dead and wounded during the day before and during the May 9 polls has now climbed to 11 and six, respectively.

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