ARMM elections should be held in advance — Pimentel

MANILA — Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr.
(PDP-Laban) today proposed that the national elections
in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) be
held one week ahead of the national schedule.

Pimentel said this is the most practical way to
prevent fraud operators from manipulating the
elections in the ARMM that would spell the fate of
candidates in the presidential and senatorial
contests.

By holding the elections one week in advance, the
opposition senator said the Commission on Elections
will be able to mobilize the necessary resources and
personnel in overseeing the polls in the ARMM and in
foiling any cheating activities.

He said the intense monitoring of poll watch groups
and concentration of media coverage on the elections
in the autonomous region will help greatly in exposing
and deterring “dagdag-bawas” (vote padding and
shaving) operations of the fraud syndicates and
unscrupulous Comelec officials.

“It’s intolerable that almost every election in Muslim
provinces like Maguindanao, Shariff Kabunsuan, Lanao
del Sur, Sulu, Basilan and Tawi Tawi has been marred
by widespread fraud perpetrated by non-residents for
which they are usually blamed. This has got to stop
and one way to do this is by holding national
elections in the ARMM at least one week ahead of the
rest of the country,” Pimentel said.

He assailed the Comelec, under Chairman Benjamin
Abalos, for its dismal failure to put in place
adequate safeguards in the ARMM to prevent the
repetition of the massive fraud that tainted the 2004
presidential election.

In fact, Pimentel said the Comelec betrayed its
insincerity in protecting the integrity of the
electoral process by assigning people of dubious
reputation to supervise the last elections in the
ARMM.

For instance, he said Lintang Bedol was named election
supervisor in Maguindanao and Rey Sumalipao as
regional election supervisor in the ARMM despite their
involvement in the 2004 electoral fraud, as evidenced
by the “Hello Garci” tapes.

“Chairman Abalos ignored the opposition pleas to
investigate the so-called Garci boys, ground them or
at least reassign them to positions where they can not
engage in any activity that is detrimental to our
electoral process. But instead of punishing these
notorious election officers, the Comelec promoted them
to very sensitive positions,” the senator from
Mindanao said.

Pimentel also blasted certain abusive local political
leaders in Mindanao for conniving with fraud operators
and corrupt election officials in the outright
fabrication of election documents, resulting in the
bloating of the votes of administration senatorial
candidates to statistically improbable levels.

He debunked the alleged capability of these local
political chieftains to generate command votes as
nothing more than a camouflage for manufacturing
election results for which they seem to have acquired
a considerable degree of expertise.

At the same time, Pimentel praised courageous and
patriotic members of the Muslim community who risked
their lives and limbs in resisting and eliminating
cheating activities, especially as volunteers of poll
watch and anti-poll fraud groups, without expecting
any material reward.
-o0o-

[tags]ARMM, philippines, elections, fraud[/tags]

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