Malacanang, civil society endorse early polling in ARMM

by Carolyn O. Arguillas / MindaNews
Sunday, 27 December 2009 14:31

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/26 December) – President Arroyo will likely certify as urgent a proposal of the Commission on Elections to hold elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) a month ahead of May 10, 2010, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said.

ARMM comprises the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-tawi and the cities of Marawi and Lamitan.

Ermita was quoted by the Office of the Press Secretary as saying that “if it is so recommended to the President as an urgent measure, then we will prepare the necessary document for the President to sign so that both Houses of Congress will receive it on time.”

The Comelec passed a resolution last week urging Congress to fast track the passage of a bill allowing early voting in the ARMM to help prevent fraud in the region especially in the light of the poll-related massacre of 57 people in Maguindanao last Nov. 23.

“For the sake of the orderly conduct of a peaceful election, Malacanang will definitely go along with it,” Ermita said. Camiguin Rep. Pedro Romualdo has filed a bill (HB 3437) calling for earlier elections in the ARMM to ensure peace during the electoral exercise.

Sen. Richard Gordon and Cagayan de Oro 2nd district Rep. Rufus Rodriguez have also filed bills (SB 2972 and HB 5578) seeking early elections. Rodriguez said voter turnout increased by 7.4 % in 24 US states where early voting is allowed.

Guiamel Alim, executive director of the Kadtuntaya Foundation, Inc., in Cotabato City and a member of the council of elders in the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society, favors an early voting for the ARMM.

“We are supporting the calls for early elections in the ARMM to ensure clean, orderly and honest elections. Comelec could concentrate fully (on the ARMM during the early voting). We are also recommending to the Comelec to set up special precincts for the internally displaced persons (displaced since August last year), Bobby Benito of the Bangsamoro Center for Just Peace, told MindaNews.

For Amina Rasul, convenor of the Philipine Council for Islam and Democracy (PCID), said: “For now, early polling will allow us to monitor and prevent fraudulent manipulations like dagdag bawas (add-subtract) that were perpetrated during previous elections.”
“Maybe 2013 we can go back to synchronization, after we have established systems for clean and fair elections,” Rasul said.

Prof. Abhoud Syed Lingga, executive director of the Institute for Bangsamoro Studies told MindaNews he is agreeable to early polling in the ARMM “in order for the Comelec and civil society organizations to focus on polling in the ARMM. This will prevent special elections which are usually used for vote-buying.”

Senator Aquilino Pimentel of Cagayan de Oro said he was “the first to suggest the idea even before the massacre… so government can focus all agencies – Comelec, AFP, PNP, DOJ, PPCRV and other election watchdogs – in the ARMM elections. Early voting will also prevent a repeat of the 2004 and 2007 anomaies.”

Lacs Dalidig, chair of the Islamic Movement for Electoral Reforms and Good Governance (IMERGG) in Lanao del Sur said his group suggested early polling in the ARMM as early as May this year and reiterated this on November 26, three days after the Ampatuan Massacre.

Dalidig said early voting will hopefully put an end to the image of the ARMM as “cheating capital.”

He said from 30 to 40 per cent of those who voted in Lanao del Sur last year were “flying voters” and fears the same thing can happen this year if elections in the ARMM were held on May 10, since the voters’ list has not been purged of these multiple registrants,

As of the March 17, 2009 records of Comelec, the country has 48.27 million voters, 11.36 million of them from Mindanao. Of the 11.36 million in Mindanao, ARMM ranks fifth in terms of votes. (ARMM has 1.69 million voters while the Davao region has 2.43 million; Northern Mindanao has 2.23 million; Region 12 or Southwestern Mindanao, also known by its old name, Central Mindanao, has 1.89 million; Western Mindanao has 1.80 million and Caraga has 1.30 million).

But the “command vote” in the ARMM and the volatile peace and order situation in the region during elections, have been taken advantage of by national candidates who want to top the race, increase their voting margin or just make it to the winning circle.

Also as of March 17, 2009 records of the Comelec, out of the 1.69 million ARMM voters, Maguindanao has the highest number of votes at 601,057; Lanao del Sur has 459,012; Sulu has 280,527; Basilan has 195,845; and Tawi-tawi has 156,027. (Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews)