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Friday, June 01, 2007
Lanao canvassing board fails to tally votes
By Lino Dela Cruz
Iligan Correspondent
ILIGAN CITY -- The Lanao del Norte Provincial Board of Canvassers (PBOC) failed Thursday to reconvene and canvass three ballot boxes after supporters of the reelected vice governor blocked the entrance to the canvassing hall.
The ballot boxes had been the subject of National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) scrutiny after a break-in on the room in the Lanao del Norte Capitol where these were kept.
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Canvassing of the votes in the ballot boxes, which were from the towns of Kauswagan, Bacolod, and Maigo, had been put off for a week now after the NBI said the ballot boxes were forcibly opened.
However, the Commission on Elections, in an en banc resolution, ordered the board of canvassers to proceed with the canvassing of the votes in the controversial ballot boxes.
But Thursday's reconvening of the board of canvassers did not materialize after Vice Governor Irma Ali's supporters barricaded the canvassing area.
Ali's supporters said they were protesting the mention of the vice governor's name in the course of the NBI investigation.
A United Opposition lawyer said that if the contents of the three ballot boxes were indeed tampered, the Certificates of Canvass (COC) should be turned over to the NBI for further examination.
UNO lawyer Arthur Abundiente said Ali's supporters of Ali committed a serious offense when they obstructed the canvassing.
Comelec provincial election supervisor Joseph Hamilton Cuevas, chairman of the board of canvassers, called for a police dispersal unit.
Philippine National Police (PNP) Provincial Director Linog Bagul arrived at 1 p.m. but failed to disperse or convince Ali's supporters to clear the entrance to the building.
Earlier, hundreds of supporters of congressional candidate Vicente Belmonte Jr., the UNO legal team, and non-government organizations headed for the Provincial Capitol in Tubod, Lanao del Norte to serve as witness to the canvassing. Their caravan was, however, stopped by Land Transportation Office (LTO) personnel at a checkpoint in Barangay Kulasihan, Kolambugan town.
The LTO personnel, who demanded that passenger jeepneys coming from Iligan City show their travel permit, stopped all traffic at the highway for almost an hour. The passenger jeepneys from Iligan City were told to pay fines.
But the passengers, who were supporters of Belmonte, said what LTO did was a form of harassment and suspicious because it delayed their arrival at the Capitol.
LTO personnel said they have been doing random inspections the whole year round.
The canvassing was set to proceed later Thursday. (Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro/Sunnex)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Zamboanga. (June 1, 2007 issue)
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