Newsbreak: Election Day: Fraud, blood & endless delays
Newsbreak: Some got caught buying votes, while others wore campaign shirts and caps all the way to the voting precincts. In the usual troubled spots in the Muslim provinces of Mindanao, voting started late—and postponed in the case of Pantar, Lanao del Norte—either because teachers didn’t show up or soldiers had occupied the voting places.
At least 45 million Filipinos were expected to have gone to the polls today to choose their senators, representatives, and local executives—the second mid-term race to be held under the six-year-old Arroyo government. Many consider the races to be a referendum on the President, who has survived two impeachment attempts based on election cheating and corruption charges.
Killings (114 dead since the campaign period began in March, according to the Philippine National Police), charges of vote-buying, and disenfranchisement of some voters have marred the exercise.
The son of senatorial bet Gregorio Honasan couldn’t vote in Marikina since his name was nowhere on the voters’ list. In Las Piñas, it’s the bets who have been “disenfranchised." Election watchdog Halalang Marangan said that the names of senatorial candidates Ralph Recto (Team Unity) and Antonio Trillanes IV (Genuine Opposition) were missing in the voting lists in certain precincts in the city.
And even the name of the late Philippine Star publisher Max Soliven was still on a voters’ list in San Juan.
The Philippine National Police has reported that as of today, there were a total of 191 violent election-related incidents, up from the 173 recorded the previous day. In these incidents, 114 people were killed while 132 were wounded, the PNP added.
President Arroyo urged all candidates and political groups to accept the people's verdict in the mid-term polls, and expressed hope that the post-election period would be marked by her longed-for national unity and cooperation.
In a statement issued after polling precincts were to officially close at 3 pm, the President lauded those who cast their votes "freely and according to their conscience" and thanked all candidates "fighting to the best of their ability, fairly, and earnestly for the people's vote."
CRUCIAL DAYS AHEAD
Election veterans say that today’s incidents are not sufficient basis to gauge the conduct of the polls. The coming days will be most crucial as the canvassing of votes proceeds amid accusations that the administration is bent on dominating the Senate and congressional races.The government-accredited election watchdog National Movement for Free Elections’ (Namfrel) has vowed to release results that are “correctly tallied and truthfully reported."
Namfrel’s national tabulation center in De la Salle Greenhills gymnasium boasts of tighter security measures, enough volunteers, and much-improved technology. According to Namfrel chairman Edward S. Go, the election watchdog had a hard time reaching its targeted number of 300,000 volunteers, which likewise derailed its accreditation with the Comelec to conduct the quick count. But Namfrel has settled everything, he said.
Based on field reports, Namfrel will cover all precincts in the country this time around. A major difference this year is that they will monitor the Comelec count at the municipal, provincial and national level. Go admitted that one of Namfrel’s shortcomings in the 2004 elections was its focus on the precinct counts.
Edmundo Castaneda, Namfrel systems committee chair, said the systems group will receive the results coming from the field into their computer system in two ways. For the provincial chapters where the operations are fully computerized with Internet connection, the field volunteers will send in the results through email.
At least 50 to 70 percent of the results are expected to be transmitted in this manner. The results will then be printed out by the Systems Group, to be handed to the respective regional desk chapters.
As for areas without Internet connection or where the count is done manually, the volunteers shall fax the results from every precinct. Upon receiving the data, the systems group shall encode the furnished results.
The systems group will create a database where all the results are lodged. The senatorial and party-list counts will be projected in a huge split-screen monitor. Updates will be available every two hours for regional tabulation while it will take four to six hours for the provincial counts to be updated.
LEGAL ARM
Namfrel is supported this year by a legal arm, the Lawyers Network for Truthful Elections (Lente) composed of lawyers, law students, paralegals and trained volunteers. It is organized by the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) and One Voice to ensure clean, honest and credible elections.
According to Go, Lente will deploy a minimum of three lawyers for every province. IBP has chapters nationwide.
Lente lawyers will focus on the canvassing of votes where cheating is large-scale, it said. It will provide legal assistance to Namfrel in responding to complaints and to incidences of election wrongdoings.
Namfrel admitted though that the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), which is accredited by Comelec to do a parallel quickcount, is a “much larger force" and is far more effective when it comes to poll watching.
Benjamin Tolosa, Jr., spokesperson of VForce, an alliance of election watchdogs, said the coming together of the country’s election watchdogs will “fill in the gaps" experienced during previous elections.
Meanwhile, the PPCRV has listed a total of 33 election related incidents as of 11 a.m. They are classified as follows: election violence (6 cases at 18%), election fraud (15 cases at 44%), irregular election procedure (9 cases at 26%), and PPCRV concerns( 4 cases at 12%).
Election incidents include delays in the opening of precincts in Barira, Shariff Kabungsuan; the towns of Lumba Babayao, Binidayan, and Kapai, Lanao del Sur. PPCRV reported that as of 11 a.m, elections had yet to start in Banisilan, North Cotabato.
As of 3.15 p.m., Comelec Commissioner Florentino Tuason said that 17 precincts in Biñan, Laguna had yet to open. In Region 10, the Commissioners reported that two precincts have been requesting for a declaration of election failure.
FAKE MONEY
Various media organizations have also reported that there have been various incidents of vote-buying all over the country. Akbay Pinoy has been accused by an anonymous source of vote buying. A vote for the said party-list organization was being offered in exchange for cell phone credits.
In an interview with a source from Bukidnon, Newsbreak also found out that sample ballots with a fake peso bill bearing the face of Virgilio Garcillano circulated near polling precincts.
Irregularities in the proceedings of the elections included names appearing twice as reported by Namfrel, while Letty Dingcong of Pasong Tamo, Makati was not allowed to vote even though her name clearly appeared on the certified voters list.
The Comelec also replaced 3,702 ballots in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM); they were previously missing.
BOMBS AND SHOOTING
At least six election-related violence incidents occurred in the last 12 hours up to the close of polling precincts at 3 p.m. today.
At around 12:30 am, Eliseo Comawas, 32, a supporter of reelectionist Mayor Santiago Barcelona, was shot in the head near his house in Escalante, Negros Occidental. A bomb exploded about three hours later at the campaign headquarters of Vincente Sese, a candidate for councilor, in Guadalupe Viejo, Makati City.
In Basilan, a shooting incident between rival mayoralty candidates Hajarun Jamiri and Alih Sali killed one person and wounded five at around 8:30 am. At around 9 am, a rocket-propelled grenade exploded near the Balanagan Elementary School in Zamboanga del Sur, wounding two.
At around 10:30 a.m., three unidentified gunmen fired upon 80 voters in Tupi, South Cotabato. No one was wounded in the attack. An hour later, unidentified suspects hurled two grenades near the Maguindanao Elementary School, a voting precinct in Pagalungan, Maguindanao, where one was wounded.– With reports from Carole Caanga, Lou Janssen Dangzalan, Ryan Chua, Ca Lilit Balane, Lesley Claudio, and Marysol Balane.
At least 45 million Filipinos were expected to have gone to the polls today to choose their senators, representatives, and local executives—the second mid-term race to be held under the six-year-old Arroyo government. Many consider the races to be a referendum on the President, who has survived two impeachment attempts based on election cheating and corruption charges.
Killings (114 dead since the campaign period began in March, according to the Philippine National Police), charges of vote-buying, and disenfranchisement of some voters have marred the exercise.
The son of senatorial bet Gregorio Honasan couldn’t vote in Marikina since his name was nowhere on the voters’ list. In Las Piñas, it’s the bets who have been “disenfranchised." Election watchdog Halalang Marangan said that the names of senatorial candidates Ralph Recto (Team Unity) and Antonio Trillanes IV (Genuine Opposition) were missing in the voting lists in certain precincts in the city.
And even the name of the late Philippine Star publisher Max Soliven was still on a voters’ list in San Juan.
The Philippine National Police has reported that as of today, there were a total of 191 violent election-related incidents, up from the 173 recorded the previous day. In these incidents, 114 people were killed while 132 were wounded, the PNP added.
President Arroyo urged all candidates and political groups to accept the people's verdict in the mid-term polls, and expressed hope that the post-election period would be marked by her longed-for national unity and cooperation.
In a statement issued after polling precincts were to officially close at 3 pm, the President lauded those who cast their votes "freely and according to their conscience" and thanked all candidates "fighting to the best of their ability, fairly, and earnestly for the people's vote."
CRUCIAL DAYS AHEAD
Election veterans say that today’s incidents are not sufficient basis to gauge the conduct of the polls. The coming days will be most crucial as the canvassing of votes proceeds amid accusations that the administration is bent on dominating the Senate and congressional races.The government-accredited election watchdog National Movement for Free Elections’ (Namfrel) has vowed to release results that are “correctly tallied and truthfully reported."
Namfrel’s national tabulation center in De la Salle Greenhills gymnasium boasts of tighter security measures, enough volunteers, and much-improved technology. According to Namfrel chairman Edward S. Go, the election watchdog had a hard time reaching its targeted number of 300,000 volunteers, which likewise derailed its accreditation with the Comelec to conduct the quick count. But Namfrel has settled everything, he said.
Based on field reports, Namfrel will cover all precincts in the country this time around. A major difference this year is that they will monitor the Comelec count at the municipal, provincial and national level. Go admitted that one of Namfrel’s shortcomings in the 2004 elections was its focus on the precinct counts.
Edmundo Castaneda, Namfrel systems committee chair, said the systems group will receive the results coming from the field into their computer system in two ways. For the provincial chapters where the operations are fully computerized with Internet connection, the field volunteers will send in the results through email.
At least 50 to 70 percent of the results are expected to be transmitted in this manner. The results will then be printed out by the Systems Group, to be handed to the respective regional desk chapters.
As for areas without Internet connection or where the count is done manually, the volunteers shall fax the results from every precinct. Upon receiving the data, the systems group shall encode the furnished results.
The systems group will create a database where all the results are lodged. The senatorial and party-list counts will be projected in a huge split-screen monitor. Updates will be available every two hours for regional tabulation while it will take four to six hours for the provincial counts to be updated.
LEGAL ARM
Namfrel is supported this year by a legal arm, the Lawyers Network for Truthful Elections (Lente) composed of lawyers, law students, paralegals and trained volunteers. It is organized by the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) and One Voice to ensure clean, honest and credible elections.
According to Go, Lente will deploy a minimum of three lawyers for every province. IBP has chapters nationwide.
Lente lawyers will focus on the canvassing of votes where cheating is large-scale, it said. It will provide legal assistance to Namfrel in responding to complaints and to incidences of election wrongdoings.
Namfrel admitted though that the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), which is accredited by Comelec to do a parallel quickcount, is a “much larger force" and is far more effective when it comes to poll watching.
Benjamin Tolosa, Jr., spokesperson of VForce, an alliance of election watchdogs, said the coming together of the country’s election watchdogs will “fill in the gaps" experienced during previous elections.
Meanwhile, the PPCRV has listed a total of 33 election related incidents as of 11 a.m. They are classified as follows: election violence (6 cases at 18%), election fraud (15 cases at 44%), irregular election procedure (9 cases at 26%), and PPCRV concerns( 4 cases at 12%).
Election incidents include delays in the opening of precincts in Barira, Shariff Kabungsuan; the towns of Lumba Babayao, Binidayan, and Kapai, Lanao del Sur. PPCRV reported that as of 11 a.m, elections had yet to start in Banisilan, North Cotabato.
As of 3.15 p.m., Comelec Commissioner Florentino Tuason said that 17 precincts in Biñan, Laguna had yet to open. In Region 10, the Commissioners reported that two precincts have been requesting for a declaration of election failure.
FAKE MONEY
Various media organizations have also reported that there have been various incidents of vote-buying all over the country. Akbay Pinoy has been accused by an anonymous source of vote buying. A vote for the said party-list organization was being offered in exchange for cell phone credits.
In an interview with a source from Bukidnon, Newsbreak also found out that sample ballots with a fake peso bill bearing the face of Virgilio Garcillano circulated near polling precincts.
Irregularities in the proceedings of the elections included names appearing twice as reported by Namfrel, while Letty Dingcong of Pasong Tamo, Makati was not allowed to vote even though her name clearly appeared on the certified voters list.
The Comelec also replaced 3,702 ballots in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM); they were previously missing.
BOMBS AND SHOOTING
At least six election-related violence incidents occurred in the last 12 hours up to the close of polling precincts at 3 p.m. today.
At around 12:30 am, Eliseo Comawas, 32, a supporter of reelectionist Mayor Santiago Barcelona, was shot in the head near his house in Escalante, Negros Occidental. A bomb exploded about three hours later at the campaign headquarters of Vincente Sese, a candidate for councilor, in Guadalupe Viejo, Makati City.
In Basilan, a shooting incident between rival mayoralty candidates Hajarun Jamiri and Alih Sali killed one person and wounded five at around 8:30 am. At around 9 am, a rocket-propelled grenade exploded near the Balanagan Elementary School in Zamboanga del Sur, wounding two.
At around 10:30 a.m., three unidentified gunmen fired upon 80 voters in Tupi, South Cotabato. No one was wounded in the attack. An hour later, unidentified suspects hurled two grenades near the Maguindanao Elementary School, a voting precinct in Pagalungan, Maguindanao, where one was wounded.– With reports from Carole Caanga, Lou Janssen Dangzalan, Ryan Chua, Ca Lilit Balane, Lesley Claudio, and Marysol Balane.
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