Tuesday, May 15, 2007 Peaceful in Region 11; bomb alert in Region 12
OTHER than minor hitches, such as the perennial problem on missing names in the voting list and shortage of election materials, Monday's conduct of mid-term elections in Davao City and other parts of Mindanao was generally peaceful.
Commission on Elections (Comelec) officials also estimated that 80 to 90 percent of the total 750,662 registered voters trooped to the city's 3,586 polling precincts to cast their vote.
Shortage of indelible ink and official ballots delayed the opening of polling precincts in some parts of the city.
"Salamat sa Diyos at wala namang (thank God and no) major incident na nangyari. Everything went smoothly and very peaceful," Lacsasa Casar, Davao City's third district election officer, told Sun.Star Davao in a telephone interview shortly before polling precincts closed at 3 p.m. Monday.
But confusion in polling precincts remained.
Casar said they encountered anew numerous cases of missing names, but was quick to point out that they covered mainly voters whose names were deactivated by the Comelec due to their failure to cast their votes in the past two elections.
"Those who complained are not really voters. Talagang hindi na sila nagparehistro (They didn’t really register) that's why their names are not in the voters list," he said.
But he added that there were some cases wherein regular voters failed to locate their names but most of these were resolved early through the assistance of volunteers from the National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) manning the voters assistance centers set up in the city's voting centers.
Shortage of official ballots also delayed voting in at least six precincts in the city's second congressional districts.
Casar said another common complaint they received Monday was from candidates who accused each other of distributing sample ballots at polling centers.
People power vs rice
Close to a thousand supporters of Mati mayoral candidate Michelle Rabat and Davao Oriental gubernatorial candidate Corazon Malanyaon surrounded a rice warehouse in Mati Monday afternoon after receiving reports that sacks of rice are being distributed there to supporters of incumbent Governor Ma. Elena Palma Gil.
Richard Villacorte, aide to Mayor Francisco Rabat, said Rabat and Malanyaon's supporter surrounded the East Coast Trading store owned by one Adelina Aponesto starting 2 p.m. Monday.
Villacorte said about 50 supporters of Palma Gil from Magsaysay in Mati were still holed up inside the store and could not go out for fear that they would be lynched by the crowd.
He said their lawyers are now working to secure a search warrant so they could get inside the store and get evidence of the alleged vote-buying activity there.
Villacorte said they already have a video footage of the sacks of rice piled inside the compound of Aponesto. He said their supporters will remain barricading the area until such time that Aponesto admit giving rice to Palma Gil supporters.
Police authorities were already in the area. But Villacorte said they do not trust the police there and will remain vigilant to ensure that their political foes could not cheat.
In a text message, Palma Gil denied any hand in the alleged vote-buying, saying she and her entire family are in Cateel town.
Dark polls in Mati
Meanwhile, some eight precincts in Mati Central Elementary School I polling center have no light.
Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) chair Benjie Angeles said they discovered this only a day before the elections and reported it to Comelec. But no lights arrived as of lunchtime Monday.
But Comelec is pointing to the Department of Education (DepEd). Comelec officer Ali-Akbar Sangcopan said his office already purchased the needed lights before May 14.
"Now, we seek the help of the Department of Education to do their part as it is their primary concern," he said.
Sangcopan said the school principal must be the point person in making sure that all rooms in the polling center has electric power to allow convenient voting and counting.
Generally peaceful
Meanwhile, Police Regional Office (PRO)-Southern Mindanao Monday said elections in Southern Mindanao have been generally peaceful despite intelligence reports of terror plots.
Chief Superintendent Andres Caro III, PRO director, said more than 70 percent of the entire police force in the region has been deployed to ensure the honesty, credibility, and sanctity of the polls, in the wake of reports that international terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) was reportedly planning to sow terror in key cities of Mindanao during the elections.
Caro said the police have been placed on high terror alert due to intelligence reports.
Reports gathered by Sun.Star Davao showed that a certain Endriz Sabal alias Abu Samir was tasked by JI leadership to bomb the cities of Koronadal, General Santos, Tacurong, Kidapawan, and Cotabato.
The suspect, along with his cohorts, will reportedly use private vehicles in their bombing plot. The military identified the vehicles that will allegedly be used as those with plate numbers AMB 489, MBG 337, GFS 983, SDU 275, LFB 213, GDX 357 and LEX 132.
Checkpoints have been installed throughout the region to avert any possible infiltration of the terror group.
Bombs in Kabusuan
Meanwhile, two improvised explosive devices (IED) exploded at the Dalican municipality in Shariff Kabunsuan province Monday morning.
Eastern Mindanao Command spokesperson Major Randolph Cabangbang said the IED exploded around 7:10 a.m. One of the bombs exploded at a residential house while the other exploded at the Dalican Pilot School.
Elections in the said area however went on despite the explosion.
No directive
Caro, after Monday's AFP-PNP press briefing at the Department of Public Works and Highways-Southern Mindanao office, also denied reports that policemen assigned at polling areas were tasked to get initial results of Monday's elections.
"We have nothing to do with the counting, hindi kami taga Comelec. All I have ordered them is to make sure the precincts are safe," Caro said.
Caro said that with the shortage of policemen in Davao region, only two policemen were assigned per poll center.
"In the whole region, we have 4,800 poll precincts and we have only 1,440 policemen in the whole region so, kulang talaga kaya we have also augmented the military in our poll precincts," Caro said.
He added that the new recruits of the Philippine National Police and the scout trainees are also augmented to the poll precincts in the region.
More missing names
In General Santos City, hundreds of voters flocked to Comelec office, complaining of missing names in voters' list.
Many of the voters expressed disgust and opted to go home after waiting in futile for hours for their complaint to be acted upon by Comelec.
"Useless ang txt Comelec, hindi pa rin namin makita pangalan naming sa listahan," a certain Mico said.
In South Cotabato, the Comelec provincial office based in Koronadal City was beset with information on alleged vote buying, harassment, cheating and the usual voters' complaint that they could not find their names in their precincts.
But generally, the conduct of elections in the province was peaceful, said South Cotabato police director Robert Kiunisala.
"The area was very peaceful. There's no major untoward incident in our jurisdiction," he said.
Lawyer Lilian Radam, provincial Comelec director, admitted that some election paraphernalia arrived only on Sunday from its main office in Manila, when it was supposed to arrive earlier to avoid being in a hurry.
The admission came amid reports of missing indelible inks in Surallah town.
"We're looking into that complaint," she told reporters, adding she was still trying to get more details about the incident.
Reports reaching the provincial poll office said the number of indelible ink opened by the municipal treasurer office did not match the packing list accompanying the paraphernalia.
In a press briefing at Camp Crame Monday afternoon, PNP deputy chief for administration Deputy Director General Avelino Razon maintained that no major security threat has disrupted this year's balloting.
Razon expressed hopes that the situation will remain peaceful until after the counting is over.
Razon's assessments came almost an hour before voting in precincts nationwide ended at 3 p.m.
As of 9 a.m. Monday, police said it has recorded 191 incidents of election-related violence since the start of campaign period in January 14, which left 114 killed and 132 others wounded or injured. (Sun.Star Davao/With Bong Sarmiento and Mai Gevera/PIA)
