For former Ambassador Henrietta de Villa, the snapshot of images from the May 26 special polls in Lanao del Sur remains clear in her memory, kept alive by a conscious telling and retelling and one that she returns to constantly like a pilgrimage in her mind. “Sample ballots strewn like carpet on the floor, secrecy folders thrown to the winds, wads of envelopes with money brazenly handed to voters, youngsters of 16 and 17 casting ballots.”
It is with a voice of passion and quiet restraint that De Villa, chair of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting PCRV), recounts in a dream-like sequence the images that still sear her memory. “And oh, the pandemonium, shouting, pushing, fist fights inside the polling precincts, gunshots.”
Electoral watchdogs have described the May 26 special polls in 13 Lanao del Sur towns as one the “dirtiest” in the country where rampant “elections for sale,” vote-buying and massive electoral irregularities and fraud were observed by volunteers.
“It is a remembering that will remain with me for a long, long time,” says De Villa who tells of her tug-of-war with one who was openly handing out envelopes with cash inside a polling precinct in Masiu, Lanao del Sur. She refused to leave until she was able to get one.
First-hand she witnessed, “everything, everything that elections should not be, all the election anomalies, fraud and violence of the grossest kind coming alive right before my seeing, hearing, touching.”
And to the hushed crowd, De Villa, who cuts a portrait of dignified grace, asks: ““Why is it good to remember? And what is the context of this remembering?”
Before her were electoral watchdog volunteers who gathered for a national post-electoral summit at the Discovery Suites here on September 5 to 7, convened by The Asia Foundation (TAF) and the Ateneo de Manila School of Governance (ASOG).
Quoting a passage from the Book of Exodus, she tells the crowd: “Remember. You must remember.” Because to remember is “to bear witness, to tell our own stories particularly those that which hold us hostage and keep us in captivity.”
And by refusing to remember and confront evils of past elections, “we condemn ourselves to repeating these same evils that have robbed us of our birthright to participate in choosing freely the leaders who will govern us.”
Throughout the three-day summit, the duty of remembering these “electoral evils” fell on watchdog volunteers who relived harrowing stories of fraud, irregularities and violence. The tales are punctuated with tones of helplessness and cynicism and, well, to also one of hope.
Participants were from eight national civil society organizations (CSOs) and seven CSOs from the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) based in Tawi-Tawi, Basilan, Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Sulu and Shariff Kabunsuan.
The ARMM CSOs had monitored the conduct of elections and had partnered with PPCRV and TAF. They also coordinated with TAF in facilitating 21 Asian election observers from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia all over ARMM during the May 14 polls.
It was the first time, says De Villa, that PPCRV, an electoral group that is Catholic Church-based, had partnered with 12 Bangsamoro CSOs that are “purely Muslim-organized, led and moved.” She describes the partnership as a “cultural breakthrough” and an “awesome experience of inter-religious dialogue”.
The synergy of CSOs and election watchdogs including NAMFREL (National Movement for Free Elections) and LENTE (Legal Network for Truthful Elections). to monitor the conduct of election in ARMM was “spontaneous” and “nearly perfect” without need of formal agreements, de Villa says. “But election irregularities and fraud in massive proportions ruptured and tore open the seamless fabric.”
ARMM CSOs reported a litany of fraud and irregularities such as massive disenfranchisement, multiple registrants, flying voters, vote-buying, ballot box-snatching and election-related violent incidents.
At one point, a video footage taken by the Maranao Peoples Development Center (MARDEC) was shown. It captured the dismal conditions inside a canvassing center in Lanao del Sur where poll workers had to pry open a ballot box using a piece of rock because the key simply could not be found.
The scene which is at once pathetic and comic drew muffled laughter from the audience.
Similar stories had been shared, revealing a pattern of electoral woes all over ARMM which, as expected, was the flashpoint of discussions and debates not only in this summit but also in similar post-electoral gatherings.
Talks would often rivet to the controversies in Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur which drew a public outcry, particularly on the 12-0 win for the administration’s Team Unity in Maguindanao and the barring of poll groups in the counting and canvassing of votes held at the provincial capitol in Shariff Aguak.
These include exposes from a teacher calling herself “Bai” over radio station DZRH and the slaying of district supervisor Musa Dimasidsing, both of whom detailed cheating accounts in Maguindanao; and the loss of election returns that led to the filing of contempt charges against lawyer Lintang Bedol, Maguindanao election supervisor, who was later released from detention.
As these were unfolding, failure of elections was declared by the Commission on Elections in 13 of 39 Lanao del Sur towns; in Barira town, Shariff Kabunsuan; 13 barangays in Indanan, Sulu; 9 precincts and one barangay in Basilan; and two precincts in Barangay Naungan, Tandubas, Tawi-Tawi.
These events prompted the Citizen’s Coalition for ARMM Electoral Reforms, Inc. (C-CARE) to declare that “widespread fraud and serious irregularities tarnished the integrity of the electoral process particularly in the ARMM.”
By the end of the summit, participants issued a call that “special efforts need to be given to ARMM because it is of a scale that can affect the national elections.”
FEATURE
Electoral Watchdogs: The Context of Remembering (Part II)
“Remembering is good but should also be done in context,” says Prof. Octavio Dinampo, coordinator of the Sulu-based Tulung Lupah Sug, Inc., who echoes De Villa’s call.
He, however, cautions against a hasty indictment on ARMM, particularly on its people and culture, without the benefit of viewing it from the lens of a historical time continuum and current political realities.
For Dinampo who teaches history and political science at the Mindanao State University in Jolo, Sulu, retelling the stories of election in Muslim Mindanao should not be isolated from historical realities.
Lest it be forgotten, ARMM, he says, is a “by-product of a long struggle of the Bangsamoro peoples right to self determination.”
Woven into the fabric of ARMM’s narrative is the Moro resistance, he adds, in the face of “historical antecedents of Spanish imperialism, US assimilation policies and Philippine colonial policies.”
These have shaped ARMM’s pockmarked electoral history that led to its current stigma as “the basket case of Philippine elections,” the country’s “cheating capital” and “factories of fraud” dating back to as far back to the 1949 victory of Pres. Elpidio Quirino. It was when the “the birds and the bees and the dead have voted” came about, according to a report by Mindanews’ Carol Arguillas.
Even then, Manila politicians had the propensity to use Moro areas such as Lanao or faraway Tawi-Tawi as a virtual reservoir of votes owing to the poor road and communication systems, according to Arguillas. “In these places, no one would dare investigate “ghost towns” and where election results, because of the distance, came in trickles.”
According to Dinampo, what had worked well in the past had been perfected by the past and present national administrations which have been supporting the rise of overlords in ARMM. “Don’t blame ARMM without blaming Malacanang,” he says.
Patronage politics where local warlords enjoyed largesse coming from the coffers of ruling parties ensured a “hundred percent delivery of votes to Malacanang,” he adds.
This continued dominance and emergence of new political dynasties not only in ARMM but also elsewhere in the country is also cited by the CSOs as a major concern “as these subvert the true political will of the people.”
The exercise of “leadership by dictatorship” by these dynasties, according to the CSOs, negates democratic practices such as check and balance, transparency and accountability. It also spawns a ‘culture of impunity’ and a ‘culture of fear’ that cripples meaningful participation in governance.
“But who armed these overlords? Who created these private armies?” Dinampo asks. “These are no different from the pro-Jakarta militia used by Pres. Suharto against pro-independence East Timor resistance fighters.”
He shares a widely-held belief that the creation of private armies in ARMM was partly done not only for electoral ends but also to neutralize the pro-independence Bangsamoro rebel groups.
Also a rising concern in ARMM is the gestation of this form of patronage politics interplaying with local clan conflicts over political power which, according to Steven Rood, TAF’s country representative to the Philippines, “overwhelms the electoral system.” In an article, he cites TAF-commissioned researches showing that the “main source of violence conflict in Muslim Mindanao is not separatism but clan feuds,” commonly known within the ARMM as ‘rido.’
Says Rood: “While elections throw this dynamic into sharp relief, such feuding is a constant reality and no amount of change in election procedures (no matter how much such reform might benefit Philippine democracy) will change that.”
Due in part to this intense clan rivalries, CSOs have noted that new municipalities in ARMM are also currently being created in rapid succession through legislations passed by the Regional Legislative Assembly.
For instance, the undivided Maguindanao had only 18 municipalities in 2001. By the time Shariff Kabunsuan province was carved out of Maguindanao last year, the total number of towns in both provinces had increased to 33. The same is true for Lanao del Sur which has 38 municipalities.
This practice of “carving out” towns is touted to be a tool for political accommodation and a form of appeasement to warring political clans and factions.
In one post-electoral assessment, ARMM CSOs reported that the creation of new towns does not, however, automatically increase corresponding shares of the Internal Revenue Allotments (IRA).
This resulted to the failure of many LGUs to deliver basic social services to communities alongside the abuse and misappropriation of IRA funds which run up to P30.7 billion in 2004.
IRA is being disbursed by the national government directly to ARMM LGUs pursuant to the Local Government Code and are completely within their disposition to fund the LGUs operating expenses and other programs, according to a 2006 study of the policy think-tank INCITEGov.
The IRA is also a source of corruption and lures leaders into running for elective posts, according to the CSO report. Most elected candidates also resort to using the IRA as their personal funds to recoup exorbitant election expenses, ultimately leaving only scraps for use in the delivery of social services to communities, the report said.
Even Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento could not resist commenting on how the advent of IRA had caused this mad scramble for local political posts where candidates do everything to win by whatever means.
In his handbook on the “2007 Regular and Special Elections in ARMM”, Sarmiento writes: “Before IRA, nobody showed much interest to become politicians. Today people invest in millions to be elected. Once elected, many local officials use the IRA as if it is their personal funds. Worse, politicians go as far as killing their opponents just to become governors or mayors yet they do not serve who elected them.”
Sarmiento, who was assigned to ARMM just a month and a half before the May 14 polls, came out with the handbook, “the fruit of my experiences”, he says, to explain the intricate processes governing regular and special elections.
“But it is not all negatives in ARMM,” says Sarmiento . “There are many pluses,” he reflects, “people, culture, stories of heroism, the presence and commitment of CSOs giving color to this beautiful region in Mindanao.”
Not off the hook
But the CSOs, particularly those from ARMM, are not letting the Comelec off the hook. Not that easily, anyway.
Despite Sarmiento’s valiant efforts, Comelec had committed far too many lapses, irregularities and anomalies particularly in ARMM, according to the CSOs, including highly-politicized commissioners and staff.
“Comelec is also to be blamed for abetting these practices and therefore is a major actor that allows the democratic processes to be undermined,” says one summit participant.
The poll body did not heed, for instance, calls for reform such as the cleansing of its ranks and the purging of multiple registrants in ARMM. Neither did the poll body prosecute or send offenders to jail that could serve as a deterrent to future fraudsters.
In preparing for the 2010 elections, CSOs vowed to “work towards a professional and effective Comelec by participating in the selection of four new Commissioners” by February 2008 – the still unfilled seat, the seats that will be vacated by chair Benjamin Abalos, commissioners Ressurreccion Borra and Florentino Tuason.
“We are going to help, suggest some criteria to the selection, strengthen the Comelec itself,” said Dinampo. “Our form of intervention will be constructive not destructive.”
They also agreed to help set policy reforms through lobbying for legislative amendments to the Omnibus Election Code and Overseas Absentee Voting Law as well as push for the passage of the Anti-Dynasty Bill.
The group also committed to help prosecute offenders by filing cases, securing and protecting witnesses to make them accountable to the people and getting video footage for evidence.
They will also work for the modernization process of the electoral system by 2008 and beyond by actively participating in the identification and selection of the proper and effective system.
“We do not want to wait for 2010 before we start moving again. The 2010 elections is very crucial as it will involve presidential, senatorial and local elections,” said Antonio Lavina, dean of the Ateneo School of Governance.
For De Villa, rage alone does not sustain the passion to work for electoral reforms or by “throwing stones or simply basking in our little triumphs.”
It is by keeping alive “our individual anchorage and trying not to push to forgetfulness the places and times of our struggles.” And not to forget the duty of remembering, she says, for “remembering is the beginning of freedom.” (Mindanews, September 14, 2006)
