More Maguindanao Election Craziness
The goal of the Comelec, from my viewpoint, is to always try to confuse the public. Conflicting reports from both Abalos and another chairman has contributed to just a little bit more craziness in our understanding as to what is going to happen in Maguindanao. Abalos announced a Failure of Election, yet they will meet on Monday to discuss whether or not local officials have supporting documents in order to clarify things. Ano ba talaga Kuya?
Thanks to “Tongue-Twisted” for referring me to the following article by Tribune, they try to explain the whole mess.. The article may have missed editing since it’s duplicated in their site, so I try to highlight the important parts here,
Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr., along with the other other commissioners, are now saying there must first be a determination on whether there were elections in Maguindanao, which is why they have now summoned for Monday’s attendamce, several individuals, among whom are the proclaimed winners in the local elections.
Surprisingly, the missing lawyer, Lintang Bedol, the chairman of the Provincial Board of Canvassers (PBoC) in Maguindanao briefly surfaced in a telephone interview with ABS-CBN last night, claiming that he was never in hiding; that he had never been informed of having been summoned by the National Board of Canvassers (NBC) and that there were elections held in the province.
But the head of the watchdog group Parish Pastoral Council on Responsible Voting (PPCRV), Henreitta de Villa, wants the Comelec to hold special polls in Maguindanao, saying that should the Comelec do so, it should have it for all the positions—local and national.
De Villa pointed out that there were no witnesses or parties that were present during the canvassing of the votes in that province, and even volunteers from their group and the National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel ) were not allowed to witness the provincial canvassing of votes.
Bedol, PboC chairman. admitted before the NBC that there were no other parties present in the canvassing of the votes from Maguindanao, during the open session of the board for the canvassing of the Certificate of Canvass (CoC) of the province.
She stressed that the public has the right to know what has occurred during the canvassing to avoid speculations of electoral fraud.
De Villa said that they will be sending around 1500 PPCRV volunteers if the special elections will push through by the poll body.
But lawyers pointed out that even the argument of De Villa does not point to there being no elections, merely that no one witnessed the canvassing which is a different issue altogether.
The Comelec has set a hearing on Monday regarding the declaration of failure of elections in Maguindanao that was also issued last Wednesday. The poll body has ordered the official to come up with evidences that an election has occurred in the province.
“Wherefore, it appearing that there is not a single election document that would prove that elections were held in the province of Maguindanao, the Commission hereby requires all proclaimed officials, if any, in the said province to present evidence before the Commission on or before June 11, 2007 to prove that elections were indeed held in Maguindanao and that they were duly elected and proclaimed”, as indicated in the order.
Also, five leftists partylist groups have moved to file two cases of electoral sabotage against the provincial canvassers of Kalinga and Zamboanga del Sur for alleged vote-shaving and vote-padding operations.
In separate complaints filed before the Comelec, the PboC Kalinga and Zamboanga del Sur were charged with grave violations of Section 42 of Republic Act 9369 and Section 58 of Comelec Resolution 7859.
Those who filed the case were Bayan Muna, Kabataan, Anakpawis, Gabriela and Suara Bangsamoro.
GO senatorial candidate Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel also yesterday called on Team Unity senatorial candidate Juan Miguel Zubiri to join him in filing criminal charges against “perpetrators of electoral fraud”.
According to Pimentel, “Zubiri is a beneficiary of vote padding conducted by these malicious individuals. If Zubiri is serious in upholding clean and honest elections then he should join me in filing charges against these individuals.”
Pimentel has already filed two criminal cases of “electoral sabotage” against five officials of the Commission on Elections in connection with alleged electoral fraud committed in North and South Cotabato .
Accused by Pimentel for alleged involvement in vote padding irregularities were lawyer Lilia S. Radam, chairman of the provincial board of canvassers of South Cotabato, Yogie Martizar, Jose Agerio R. de Guzman and Gloria M. Mudanza, all members of the provincial board of canvassers of North Cotabato .
Gabby Claudio said they are hoping that the Comelec would act fairly and hear the side Zubiri who demands the poll body to canvass the votes in Maguindanao.
“We hope that the final decision of the Comelec on whether to call for special elections or not will be fair not only to the national candidates concerned but also to the local candidates of Maguindanao who have already been proclaimed. All parties and candidates should respect and abide by whatever conclusion or decision Comelec makes on the matter,” he said.
For Pimentel, special polls would would simply turn into a run-off between the 12 th and 13th placer and would only violate the electoral and constitutional laws.
“If someone wants to know the actual results that someone has to file an election protest you do not hold another election, since in effect it will be a run off election between Zubiri and myself. Now, what law authorizes a run of election? There is no such law,” he said.
Citing a Supreme Court ruling in 1966, he argued that 50 precincts from 3 provinces, even if it would have a direct affect on the results of the elections, were excluded by the high court.
“The Supreme Court did not even talk about disenfranchisement,” he said.
Asked if he was afraid of a special elections as he might lose to Zubiri, Pimentel said, “I am not afraid of it. A special election was held in Lanao del Sur and I won over Zubiri, but this must be done in accordance with the law, “adding that in Lanao del Sur no elections were held while in Maguindanao, elections were held but cannot be determined without opening ballot boxes.
“We all want the Magindanao votes counted but in accordance with proper procedure that is proper procedure if the submitted documents are tainted and dubious and statistically improbable you exclude since there is no other way to determine the results of Maguindanao without opening the ballot boxes Comelec should proclaim the top 12 and let the affected person protest and open the ballot boxes,” Pimentel insisted. Kristine C. Torres, Angie M. Rosales, Sherwin C. Olaes and Jojo Arazas
Genuine Opposition, binanatan ang Comelec dahil sa pagdedeklara ng Failure of Elections sa Maguindanao
Special Elections sa Maguindanao: Live interview with Atty. Koko Pimentel
Closing Thoughts
In the end, we will know by today, as the canvassing for all provinces, excluding Maguindanao, will be over. If Pimentel and Zubiri are still close, then it will be up to the Monday Session as to what will happen. If local officials or any other official cannot provide any documents, then The Comelec may have to set aside the Maguindanao votes, proclaim Pimentel, and have Zubiri file a protest soon thereafter. It would seem that an election did take place, it’s just that no one saw the actual canvassing of votes, since our good old pal, Lintang Bedol, decided to hide the whole thing from the rest of the world. Thus, Pimentel may have precedence in this case, since a failure of election did not take place, but rather a failure of Comelec took place.
In this case, I would suggest, instead of having special elections in Maguindanao, I move to have special appointments for Comelec and junk all of these current officials and put them in an island where they can vote themselves off one by one.
One thing still isn’t clear. Why isn’t Comelec compelling Lintang Bedol to report to the National Board of Canvassers? Afraid of something? After all, he of all people should know where the hell the documents are.
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The goal of the Comelec, if I may add Nick, is to bide their time until the public loses interest so that when no one is looking, they can declare Zubiri won by a landslide in Mindanao.
Abalaos is an expert in psy war (having been an overrated elected official himself), with Comelec ops being his second skin, he knows he has all the time in the world, after all, he must be telling himself - “There they’ve got the ocean 11, they’re satisfied already so I can make Gloria a nice offering - Zubiri - when no one is looking!”
@MBW, you’re definitely correct. It’s hard to believe that they have taken so long, but this just goes to show as to how far, the citizen watchgroups have come. If not for them, and the stupidity of the cheats to make the Maguindanao election a 12-0 sweep, then we may never have been aware of such anomalies.
Abalos and the gang are definitely buying their time, moving on to plan B and that is the special elections. This is probably also a partial reason as to why Bedol has been absent, trying to “prepare” for the special elections.
I won’t start with Bedol again, I’ve said my peace already regarding the scumbag.
Nick,
With due respect, I believe you should continue to expose cheat Bedol. I am a firm believer that blogs help, at least in that they are thoughts and opinions that could help shape a fellowman’s ideas on what to think or believe.
It would do Bedol a great favour to be left alone! He mustn’t be left alone and I am ardent believer that your posts help jar Comelec in the right direction, if I may be allowed a bit more optimism.
Zubiri himself should shut up. The more he talks, the more we tend to believe that he cheated. His insistence to canvass despite the irregularities shows that he may have known about the cheating.
Koko I am sure wants to find out how the voting really was. The proclamation of the local candidates show that elections took place. Koko increased his lead after the canvassing yesterday.
As for Bedol, he is an employee of the COMELEC. He can be called anytime without any written order or subpoena from the commissioners.
@MBW, you’re right, this guy is just too evil to be true… It’s just almost too unbelievable what this guy can get away with, and still have a job. In any other field of work, even a garbage man, this guy would have already been fired. Damn Abalos is really getting on my nerve for not doing anything, but then again, we can’t expect anything good to come from Abalos either…
@Schumey, Zubiri has even gone to the point of threatening libel against Pimentel, talk about just how desperate this guy has become…
eh natatakot din si Pimentel. If he wants to know the true Maguindanao votes, then ok lang dapat sa kanya kung mag special election.
@HindiAkoPinoy, What Pimentel and GO are trying to say is that an election took place in Maguindanao. While Lanao had a special elections, the only reason was that an election actually never took place in Lanao.
In Maguindanao, elections took place, but the canvassing had so many anomalies and cases of vote padding and shaving that it should be excluded..
A Special elections at this point will only help those who would want to cheat because at this point the election watchdogs are very much fatigued and may not be able to muster the kind of election watch that is needed.
A special election in Maguindanao won’t affect the standings that much since neither Pimentel or Zubiri can say they can runaway with the votes. Both are from Mindanao.
Even in the recent Lanao Canvass, Pimentel still lead Zubiri in the final count.
So, I don’t think Pimentel is afraid of a special election, it’s just that Comelec may not have the authority to call a special election in this situation.