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Tuesday, August 09, 2005
'Failure of election' sought in 3 Tuburan villages
By Cheng Ordoņez and Al Jacinto
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- An official charged with the conduct of the voting in Basilan Province said Monday he would recommend to the Commission on Elections en banc the declaration of "failure of election" in at least three barangays in Tuburan town.
Comelec Commissioner Mehol Sadain said the conduct of the elections in the three barangays were "highly irregular".
Sadain, who oversaw the conduct of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm) polls in Basilan, went to Tuburan and received reports that "voting" in three barangays already started Sunday, ahead of the scheduled election day.
The Philippine Information Agency said in a report that the recommendation to declare "failure of election" will be for three barangays only and not for the entire town of Tuburan.
Sadain said he has sought an investigation into a village chieftain in Tuburan town for allegedly coercing election officers to allow people to cast their votes on the eve of election day.
Nine ballot boxes were snatched by unidentified men in Tuburan town for a still unknown reason. "This is highly irregular and illegal. We are investigating that reports," Sadain told reporters.
The Muslim autonomous region is composed of the provinces of Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur and Marawi City. About 1.2 million registered voters were expected to choose their new governor, vice governor, and
24 members of the Regional Legislative Assembly (RLA), but there was reportedly slow turnout of voters in some areas of the region.
Tight security
Security was tight during the elections. Soldiers and policemen, backed by armored vehicles, were spotted guarding polling places in the provinces. Security forces put up roadblocks and searched vehicles for weapons and explosives in areas where rebels are known to actively operate.
Regional police chief Sukarno Ikbala said some 6,400 policemen, on top of the 11,000 soldiers, were deployed in the five provinces to ensure peaceful elections. More than 700 areas in the provinces were tagged as probable flashpoints of troubles because of the presence of armed followers of opposing politicians and rebel groups.
The candidates for the gubernatorial post were trimmed down to three--Shariff Aguak town mayor Datu Zaldy Ampatuan (Lakas), incumbent Muslim autonomous region vice governor Mahid Mutilan (Ompia), and former Datu Paglas town mayor Ibrahim Paglas (Liberal).
Eight other gubernatorial candidates, including former rebels, backed out from the race for lack of popular support and money to sustain their respective campaigns.
Brigadier General Mohammad bin Dolorifno, commander of the military's Task Force Hope, which stands for honesty, orderly, peaceful elections, said the firing of guns near polling precincts by bodyguards of the town mayor of Lumbatan and barricade by hundreds of villagers of a town hall in South Upi marred the holding of Monday's elections.
Dolorfino said, however, that the elections were generally peaceful. "There were no reports of election-related violence, or kidnappings of candidates or bombings and terrorism and we are glad that the elections were honest and clean," he said.
(August 9, 2005 issue)
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Barricade, mayor's arrest mar 'peaceful' polls