(66 incidents and still counting) AFP, PNP role in election violence alarming, says PL-GO watchdog

The involvement of police officers in the burning of a polling precinct in Taysan, Batangas, which resulted in the death of two teachers, may just be the tip of the iceberg as far as the role of state security forces in electoral fraud and violence is concerned, says an opposition watchdog group.

The Task Force Poll Watch of party-list groups and the Genuine Opposition has noted an alarming number of incidents of government soldiers and police involved in illegal election-related activities since the voting of May 14.

Citing data collected by its volunteers and watchers nationwide, the task force has documented at least 66 cases of electoral violence, threat and intimidation against voters and election officers committed by members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine National Police (PNP).

These incidents occurred in 64 towns and cities covering 28 provinces, including areas in Camarines Sur, Nueva Ecija, Isabela, Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Compostela Valley, Leyte, and Samar. Among the acts done by soldiers and police during the elections were:

1) Abduction (or frustrated abduction), shooting and/or killing of election officials, poll watchers and volunteers especially those identified with opposition candidates and partylist groups.  Among those abducted and killed were Jun Bagasbas and Ronilo Ballevare, Kabataan watchers in Capalonga, Camarines Norte.

2) Intimidation and/or preventing opposition and party-list poll watchers from entering the canvassing area and/or performing their duties

3) Threatening or usurping the functions of COMELEC officials in order for electoral fraud to take place

4) Escorting candidates into areas not allowed during the voting and counting period

5) Intimidating voters not to vote for opposition party list groups and instead to vote for administration-backed party list groups like Bantay, ANAD or TUCP

6) Distributing leaflets, putting up posters that attack militant partylist groups The Task Force said the role of state security forces in electoral fraud and violence increased despite a memorandum of agreement signed between the COMELEC and the Defense Department to limit the AFP’s role in the elections.

“On the contrary, the AFP’s anomalous role in the May 2007 elections is especially worrisome for partylist groups and candidates opposing the Arroyo administration. We became targets of their military and psy-war operations, including the harassment and intimidation of our members and supporters,” said Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano.

He accused the AFP and PNP of “terrorizing” voters in party list bailiwicks like Nueva Ecija, Bulacan, Leyte, the Samar and Bicol provinces.

“Soldiers who previously went house to house campaigning against our parties made their presence felt at the polling areas, intimidating our voters. In Guimba, Nueva Ecija, soldiers actually told voters to vote Bantay or nothing.”

Gabriela Rep. Liza Maza said they also received reports from their watchers in Lanao del Sur where special elections were held yesterday citing the involvement of PNP officers in coaching voters in election precincts in Masui. Votebuying activities of certain partylists and candidates were conducted freely in front of these troops, she added.

“The AFP’s and PNP’s involvement in this year’s elections has raised the ante for cheating. It threatens to make democracy in this country more of a mockery than it already is,” said Maza.

The Task Force plans to take legal measures against military and police elements and institutions involved in the said acts of electoral fraud and violence. ###

At least 58,000 padded votes for Malacanang-backed party-lists in Mindanao

Party-lists Bayan Muna, Anakpawis, Gabriela, Kabataan and Suara Bangsamoro today said that accumulated votes padded for Malacanang-backed party-lists in some parts of Mindanao have totaled to at least 58,000.

 

The party-lists reported that 22,011 votes were padded for ALIF (Ang Laban ng Indiginong Filipino) from 15 ERs out of 28 municipalities in Zambo del Sur.

ERs from Margosatubig, Pitogo, Vicencio Sagum, Tabina, San Miguel, Simimot, Tambulig, Midsalip, Aurora, Mahaya, Dinas San Pablo, Josefina, Molave and Dumalinao showed discrepancies in the actual votes acquired and the reported number of votes in the canvassing. Votes for ALIF were padded by as high as 2,000 votes in some towns.

“We were able to evaluate very obvious discrepancies in penmanship and pen ink when we compared the COVs to the SOVs. This is vote-padding in its most blatant form,” said Kabataan President Raymond Palatino.

Task Force Poll Watch (TFPW), the party-lists’ anti-fraud watch dog, had also earlier reported 36,609 combined padded votes for COOP-NATCO and UNI-MAD in Sibugay Zamboanga.

Gabriela Rep. Liza Maza said, “These cases further reinforce our estimation that votes for known Malacanang-backed party-lists may be padded from anywhere between 2 to 2.7 million in the Comelec canvassing.”

Maza and Palatino said that they are expecting other cases to come in from other provinces and cities in Mindanao, especially from ARMM.

The party-lists cited that Tawi-Tawi, for instance, reported an 89% voter turnout for party-lists. “This is highly questionable and phenomenal,” said Palatino. He also questioned YACAP’s (Youth against Corruption and Poverty) top post in the province, beating Moro party-lists with 21,966 votes.

TFPW is also evaluating reports of vote-padding in Sulu, Sulatan Kudarat, North Cotabato, Basilan, Zamboanga City and Lanao del Norte.

Maza called on the National Board of Canvassers to defer the canvassing and correct the said COCs. ###

Finally, someone comes out with an affidavit on Maguindanao fraud

190 genuine ER’s disregarded, uncanvassed in Maguindanao town

The Party-List-Genuine Opposition Task Force Poll Watch has uncovered damning evidence proving that the Commission on Elections did not canvass genuine election returns in Maguindanao.

A Maguindanao Board of Election Inspector, Faizal Kalantungan, has executed an affidavit attesting to the fact that 190 ERs and 38 ballot boxes remain uncanvassed in Pagalungan, Maguindanao.

Kalantungan’s affidavit is the first legally binding evidence that will bolster reports that no canvassing was conducted in several towns in Maguindanao.

“Up to now, the authorized Comelec officer has yet to collect the election returns and the 38 ballot boxes,” says Kalantungan in an affidavit signed yesterday, May 24, 2007.

“There are still 190 ERs in the custody of BEIs, including mine, and a total of 38 ballot boxes inside the Pagalungan municipal hall that remain uncanvassed,” his affidavit stated.

According to Zaynab Ampatuan, head of GO-PL fact-finding team that investigated the fraud in Maguindanao, the 190 uncanvassed ERs contained all the votes in eight (8) of twelve (12) barangays in the said municipality.

“It is highly irregular that the Provincial Board of Canvassers already finished canvassing ‘votes’ in Maguindanao while the ERs remain in the custody of poll officers at the municipal level,” says Bayan Muna Representative Satur Ocampo.

“The Maguindanao Certificate of Canvass was already submitted for canvassing to the National Board of Canvassers in PICC. But the genuine ERs reflecting the votes of the electorate were still uncanvassed. This is a clear case of election sabotage, a criminal and election offense” Ocampo stressed.

Anakpawis party-list Rep. Rafael Mariano charged that the ERs and COCs canvassed in Sharif Aguak are “fabricated and therefore not reflective of the Maguindanao electorate’s will.”

Reps. Ocampo and Mariano called on the Comelec to immediately declare a failure of elections in Magundanao. GO lawyer Sixto Brillantes and Bayan Muna general counsel Neri Colmenares are set to raise the said issue to National Board of Canvassers today. #

Votes padded by 2 to 2.7 million, party list, GO watchdog

The progressive party-list-GO task force poll watch has uncovered data showing that votes in the ongoing COMELEC count may be padded by anywhere from 2 to 2.7 million votes.

A check of completed city and provincial COCs from the official COMELEC canvass already gives a 73.4% voter turnout in 45 provinces which is 4.42% higher than the Pulse Asia exit poll of 69%. This translates to approximately two million padded votes nationwide and counting.

“What made us suspicious was COMELEC Chairman Benjamin Abalos’ premature announcement, a day after the elections, that voter turnout was 75%. This may have provided political operators with as much as 2.7 million in cheatable, negotiable votes,” said Dr. Giovanni Tapang, analyst of the said task force.

Tapang said 2.7 million votes can affect the ranking of the top 4 leading senatorial seats and can put candidates in the 13-18 slots in the winning 12 and cause those in the lower 6-12 seats to slide out of the winning circle.

“From the current standing in the COMELEC tally, 2.7 million can possibly put out 4 GO candidates (Aquino, Cayetano, Trillanes and Pimintel) and one independent (Honasan) out of the race,” said Tapang.

The six TU candidates that can be catapulted to the winning circle are Zubiri, Recto, Defensor, Pichay, Montano and Sotto.

In the party list race, 2.7 million is equivalent to eight seats up for negotiation. At the same time, it would affect the overall percentages of opposition party list groups by increasing the total base of the party list votes, effectively increasing the 2% vote threshold for each seat in Congress.

Tapang decried the fact that in many cases, COMELEC officials refused to provide opposition poll watchers with copies of election returns even if they had authorization and identification documents for the LP dominant minority party, making it difficult to immediately counter-check the vote padding. ####

Partylist groups to sue erring Caloocan City canvassers at Comelec today

Pollwatchers and leaders of Kabataan, Gabriela and Bayan Muna will go to the Commission on Elections at 1:30 pm today May 23 to file a complaint against the Board of Canvassers of Caloocan City.

The city canvassers are accused of padding votes for Kasangga, one of the suspected pro-administration partylist groups and whose nominees include Malou Arroyo, sister of First Gentleman Mike Arroyo.