Wednesday, May 23, 2007 MILF distances from poll cheating in Maguindanao By Ben O. Tesiorna
THE Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has distanced itself from allegations that massive cheating occurred in Maguindanao during the May 14 midterm elections.
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said they "are not in a position to say whether there was massive cheating or not" as they had not participated in any election so far.
Kabalu admitted though that some of their members have exercised their right to suffrage and complained that some of them were indeed unable to cast their votes.
"We keep distance (from this) and we are not in a position to say there was massive cheating... Pero bumoto yung ibang members namin na registered, pero hanggang voting lang (But some of our members who were registered voted. But only until voting)," Kabalu said.
A Central Mindanao observer who requested anonymity said though it is possible for a 12-0 Team Unity victory in Maguindanao and it was very evident that "there's a complete manipulation of the votes" in the province.
The source said this was done by conducting the election a day before May 14 and only by some people.
The source's statement supported the earlier statement made by a teacher who claimed that she was among those who filled up the ballots in favor of Team Unity and some children made to affix their thumb mark to the election documents.
The MILF, in its official website luwaran.com, also came out with a story that election in some parts of Mindanao was conducted two days before election day.
Officials from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm) however denied this allegation of cheating.
The National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) had also set aside the election returns from Maguindanao, saying that their volunteers there were not furnished with a copy of election returns.
Comelec meanwhile decided to defer the canvassing of votes in Maguindanao pending the appearance of the provincial election supervisor at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC), where the national canvassing is being held.
Comelec Chair Benjamin Abalos said the canvassing has been postponed to May 25, but did not say if the decision was due to the request by various civil society groups to set aside the Maguindanao votes until after the investigation on allegations of poll fraud in the province had been completed.
Abalos said Lintang Bedol, the provincial election supervisor for Maguindanao, has been summoned to appear this Friday.
Maguindanao has 289,029 voters in its 18 municipalities, half of which has registered -- a more than 10 percent increase in the voters' population from the 2004 elections to this year's polls.
In a statement, the Suara Bangsamoro party-list said the presence of the military in Mindanao during election has caused the massive cheating.
"While urban and campus militarization took place in Luzon, massive troop deployments were employed in Mindanao, particularly in the province of Sulu, attacking legitimate camps of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). These series of attacks resulted to forcible displacement of 50,000 individuals from eight municipalities," the group said.
"The situation of the intensified militarization aims to disrupt the political stability in the area and divide the people of Sulu. In this way, the coming elections will be under the control of the military who serves this desperate administration who has no other way to win the elections but to resort in fraudulent means," they added.
Suara believes that this massive and systematic electoral fraud and violence are not only happening in Sulu.
The contested result of 12-0 in favor of the administration bets in Maguindanao is one significant manifestation of rigging the election turnout in one of the vote-rich area in Mindanao -- the Armm, in favor of the administration.
"The recent expose of a teacher who served as a Board of Election Inspector in one of the precincts in Maguindanao only proves the administration's dirty schemes.
“In almost all areas in Armm rampant fraud and violence is happening," said Suara chair Zaynab Ampatuan.
