President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo renewed a plea yesterday for peaceful national elections next week after clashes among followers of rival politicians left at least eight people dead.
Arroyo called on her four rivals in Monday's presidential election and other candidates running for Congress and municipal posts to ease tensions, saying "we must now strive to leave behind the heat of the campaign and bring this nation together for a shining moment of Philippine democracy."
At least four people were killed and five were wounded when supporters of two mayoral candidates clashed in Trece Martirez in Cavite province, south of Manila, late Tuesday -- a day before politicians there were to sign an accord against electoral violence, provincial police chief Roberto Rosales said.
Two suspects were arrested, he said.
Security was stepped up to prevent retaliatory attacks in the province with a history of election violence and a surfeit of unlicensed guns, he said.
"We wanted to leave a legacy of having a zero number of election incidents but unfortunately we had this horrible incident," Rosales told DZRH radio.
In the Bataan peninsula, 65km west of Manila, a gunfight erupted Tuesday between backers of two rival politicians running for different posts, resulting in three deaths, police said.
Investigators said the killings may have also been sparked by a feud over control of a cockfighting arena, which exacerbated political tension.
In the town of Sual, 200km north of the capital, a village leader running for councilor was killed after unidentified gunmen shot him 23 times, officials said.
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