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Monday, October 29, 2007
Comelec to voters: Stay alert vs poll fraud
MANILA -- Hours before Monday’s synchronized barangay and Sanggunianga Kabataan elections the poll body advised voters to help prevent incidents of poll fraud like “flying voters” and vote buying.
Police also placed the entire country on the highest security alert starting Sunday as about a million candidates are vying for nearly 672,000 posts in 42,000 villages, locally known as barangays, in elections today that could be marred by pockets of violence and fraud.
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National police Director-General Avelino Razon Jr. said the 120,000-strong force was placed on full alert to guard against violence and fraud. Police commanders have been ordered to stop any attempt by communist rebels to use force to ensure the victory of sympathetic candidates, he said.
Commission on Elections spokesman James Jimenez also advised voters to be on alert against any form of poll fraud like vote buying and flying voters.
Jimenez in a television interview advised voters to report or even challenged the Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs) from allowing flying voters to vote or those involved in vote-buying.
The Comelec has been hit by recent corruption scandals. Its former chairman, Benjamin Abalos, resigned on Oct. 1 amid allegations he tried to bribe a Cabinet official and a businessman to ensure the approval of a major Chinese telecommunications contract which has since been scrapped by Arroyo.
The commission said voters and the public may dial the Comelec hotline numbers at 525-9294, 525-9295, 525-9334, 527-0821 and 527-5574 for reports of violations of the election rules.
Comelec records showed there is a total of 51.3 million registered voters for Monday’s elections – 88.1 million for the barangay elections and 3.1 million are for the SK.
It has set up 558,118 precincts in 1,494 municipalities and 136 cities nationwide.
On the other hand voters are asked to visit the poll precincts early as voting centers are open as early as 7 a.m. and closes at 3 p.m.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo herself is expected to arrive at Precinct 1-A at the Primary School Building of the Lubao Elementary School in Barangay San Nicolas First, Lubao, Pampanga. She is number 86 in the Computerized Voters’ List (CVL).
She may be accompanied in the polling precinct by her son, Pampanga Representative Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo, who is listed in the same precinct.
Other personalities listed in the same precinct are the President’s brother Diosdado Macapagal Jr., her niece Elizabeth Jalandoni Macapagal and nephew Alex Jalandoni Macapagal.
The President’s half-sister and former Pampanga vice governor, Cielo Macapagal-Salgado, and her children Mercedes and Diosdado Martin are also listed in the same precinct.
Poll officials are busy preparing for information kits, tally boards, ballot boxes and other election supplies and paraphernalia.
Meanwhile, General Razon in an earlier police briefing ordered all police directors and chiefs in the country to stop any attempt by communist rebels to use force to ensure the victory of sympathetic candidates, he said.
"Our intelligence assessment indicates a massive effort by the CPP-NPA and its legal front organizations to field sympathetic candidates in the elections in order for the movement to regain lost ground," Razon said in a statement, referring to the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the NPA.
In a sprawling region south of Manila, the guerrillas were covertly backing 28 candidates, including 22 who were running to become village heads, Razon said. Rebel support in some areas was being given to candidates who pledged to reject the establishment of military outposts in their communities, he said.
Village officials, elected to three-year terms, play a vital role in the government's counterinsurgency campaign.
Communist guerrillas have considerable public support in 2,224 far-flung villages and were taking steps to expand their influence in 5,600 others, according to police estimates.
The 6,200-strong rebels have been fighting for a Marxist state for 39 years and have stepped up raids on police and military outposts as well as commercial establishments in recent months. (JMR/AP/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Manila. (October 29, 2007 issue)
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