Maguindanao poll fraud whistleblower shot dead

A public school official who exposed alleged electoral fraud in Pagalungan, Maguindanao, was gunned down Saturday night at an Islamic school in the municipality by unidentified men, police said Sunday. The fatality was identified as Musa Dimasidsing, Maguindanao Schools District Supervisor. Chief Supt. Felizardo Serapio Jr., Central Mindanao police director, said Dimasidsing died of gunshot wounds to the face and chest. Maguindanao has 300,000 voters and the province drew controversy when the administration senatorial candidates scored a 12-0 sweep there in a preliminary count late last month. Dimasidsing, the designated election supervisor in Maguindanao during the elections, reportedly witnessed the alleged rigging of the votes in the province. Dimasidsing also filed a complaint against several members of the Board of Election Inspectors after accusing them of committing irregularities in the canvassing of results in Pagalungan. The district supervisor was said to be the one who also confirmed the testimonies of Pagalungan Elementary School teachers that they were harassed and intimidated by political operators behind the town's election irregularities. Dimasidsing also reported to authorities that four ballot boxes were snatched by armed men believed working for a politician in Pagalungan during the May 14 elections. Dimasidsing death came as Comelec commissioners in Manila are starting to get a clearer picture of the wholesale cheating in Maguindanao. Volunteers from an independent watchdog authorized by the Comelec have complained they were not allowed to monitor the vote counting, and were not provided with election returns from the province. Opposition spokesman Adel Tamano had said it planned to present the testimonies of five witnesses from Maguindanao to the elections commission who claimed to have seen incidents of cheating. One witness, who was not identified, said in TV and newspaper interviews that vote-counters were ordered to fill out ballots with the names of the 12 administration senatorial candidates. The Comelec has formed Task Force Maguindanao to dig deeper into the electoral fraud allegation in the province. Identifying the people responsible for the missing certificates of canvass and statement of votes would be the main job of Task Force Maguindanao. Comelec Commissioner and task force chief Nicodemo Ferrer said, however, that the task force has not yet make any movements in the investigation since it is still waiting for the formal report coming from the provincial board of canvassers (PBOC) that handled the canvassing of the Maguindanao votes at the provincial level. “I don’t think they have completed their report. From there, we start analyzing the persons in the Comelec who may be liable. So we will start our investigation there," Ferrer said. Aside from unmasking Comelec personnel involved in the cheating in the province, Ferrer said they would also arrest even those who are not poll employees but “[who] are responsible also for corrupting our people." Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos formed the Task Force Maguindanao after the election documents from the province have not been delivered to the Comelec 26 days after the May 14 polls. Maguindanao PBOC chairman Lintang Bedol was able to attend a canvassing procedure of the Comelec, during which he admitted that poll watchers of the political parties and volunteers of poll watchdogs were not present during the canvassing. Bedol brought with him the provincial Certificate of Canvass but he failed to bring the municipal COC and the statement of votes per precincts. The commission then summoned Bedol after snubbing the succeeding proceedings despite notices sent to him by the Comelec. Abalos ordered the placing of Bedol’s name in the Bureau of Immigration’s watch list and he was given until Tuesday to appear to Comelec or he will be arrested. Meantime, Comelec is trying to determine if there was a failure of elections in Maguindanao and if there is a need to hold special elections there. The poll body had summoned the local officials in the 22 municipalities in Maguindanao in order to get their reactions and also show proof why the Comelec should not conduct the special elections in the province after the PBOC failed to conduct the recanvassing of the COCs from the area last Wednesday. “They must present evidence.. that elections were indeed held in Maguindanao and that they were duly elected and proclaimed," Abalos added. - GMANews.TV