KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews / December 7) – The head of an electoral watchdog in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) are joining other Asian counterparts in observing the conduct of the Thailand's general assembly elections on December 23 this year.
KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/12 July) — Mayor Rodolfo Gantuangco has vowed to observe non-partisanship in the coming elections for barangays and Sangguniang Kabataan elections.
ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews/26 June) — The second division of the Commission on Elections in Manila today received copies of the certificates of canvass (CoCs) of Maigo, Bacolod and Kauswagan towns in Lanao del Norte from the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) and Liberal Party during a hearing on the contested votes for the congressional post of the 1st district of Iligan and Lanao del Norte.
MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/24 June) – ‘Dagdag-bawas’ (vote-padding and vote shaving) operations carried out by syndicates have reportedly enabled Team Unity senatorial candidate Juan Miguel Zubiri to obtain 110,267 fraudulent or ‘ampao’ votes in six more towns in Mindanao, Genuine Opposition bet Aquilino Pimentel III today said.
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/13 June) – Stolen documents? If Maguindanao election supervisor Lintang Bedol’s claim on June 11 that important election documents were stolen from the Commission on Elections office in Maguindanao, that matter should have been reported to the Comelec and the police immediately but was not.
KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/13 June) – Persons who committed fraud in the May 14 elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) should be brought to court “so that law and justice would be upheld,” the region’s electoral watchdog said in a press statement it issued today.
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/13 June) – “I am both amused and outraged,” Senator Aquilino Pimentel said of Maguindanao election supervisor Lintang Bedol’s claim on June 11 that the missing election documents were stolen from his office on May 29.
SPECIAL REPORT
Last of three parts
SHARIFF AGUAK, Maguindanao (MindaNews/12 June) – When candidates for the August 2005 elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) met in Davao City on July 18, 2005 for the Commission on Elections-sponsored covenant-signing for clean elections, only two of nine candidates for governor and three of 114 bets for 24 regional assembly seats showed up, the two bets for governor airing a litany of complaints and offering suggestions on how to prevent cheating on election day.
ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews/12 June) — There were two parades here today, the first by the city government to celebrate independence “anchored on truth and justice,” and the other to protest electoral fraud.
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/11 June) – The chair of a pollwatch body wants to know why Maguindanao election supervisor Lintang Bedol did not immediately file a report on the alleged missing municipal certificates of canvass (COCs) from Maguindanao’s 22 towns.
SPECIAL REPORT
2nd of three parts
SHARIFF AGUAK, Maguindanao (MindaNews/11 June) – ARMM Governor Zaldy Ampatuan was as optimistic as representatives of civil society in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) that the May 2007 elections would disprove claims that the ARMM is the “cheating capital” of the country.
SHARIFF AGUAK, Maguindanao (MindaNews/11 June) – A number of scholars and Muslim religious leaders have said invoking shura (Arabic for consultation) to explain the 12-0 victory of the administration’s Team Unity senatorial slate in the province was wrong but Engr. Norie Unas, Maguindanao administrator and spokesperson of Governor Datu Andal Ampatuan who was quoted as having invoked “shura” to explain the victory, now says he “never invoked shura.”
SPECIAL REPORT
1st of three parts
SHARIFF AGUAK, Maguindanao (MindaNews/10 June) — Former Justice Secretary Simeon Ampatuan Datumanong stepped out of Precinct 01-A in Shariff Aguak Central Elementary School here on May 14, smiling as he raised his right forefinger to show it had been stained with indelible ink.
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/10 June) – The deadline for the submission of the candidates' signed Statement of Election Contributions and Expenses is on June 13, but as of Friday noon, only 11 out of 69 candidates in Davao City in the May 14 polls have submitted reports, according to the Commission on Elections in the city.
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/09 June) — Election watchdog Kontra Daya has joined the clamor for the relief of three officials of the Commission on Elections over their alleged “complicity in massive fraud” during the May 14 elections which “cannot just be ignored.”
KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/31 May) – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) central office has summoned at least 30 election officers and members of the municipal and city board of canvassers of South Cotabato and nearby General Santos City to shed light on the alleged tampering of election results coming from the province.
DATU ODIN SINSUAT, Shariff Kabunsuan (MindaNews/31 May) – Rising above passions and heated debates, the canvassing board of Shariff Kabunsuan today finished the canvassing of five out of 11 towns and ruled on motions filed by lawyers in an atmosphere described by electoral watchdogs as “fair, calm and orderly.”
MARAWI CITY (MindaNews/29 May) — Minors were able to vote and there was rampant vote-buying even inside the polling centers: all of these election irregularities were done in the presence of policemen and election special action officers, a poll watch group in Lanao del Sur said today.
MARAWI CITY (MindaNews/29 May) — It was just like the movie, "Mission Impossible” — the car chase Monday went through a maze of narrow streets clogged with vehicular traffic but ended abruptly inside the campus of the Mindanao State University.
MARAWI CITY (MindaNews/29 May) — The smell at the Lanao del Sur Provincial Capitol gym was so obnoxious that counting of ballots had to be stopped several times Monday night.
MARAWI CITY (Mindanews/28 May) – Two days after the special polls, canvassing of election returns in the 13 towns where special elections were held over the weekend, has yet to start, lawyer Carlos Medina, chair of the Legal Network for Truthful Elections (LENTE), said.
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/28 May) — Tension has gone down in Davao del Sur following the announcement of a shoot-to-kill order against escorts with criminal records and politicians who have allegedly coddled them, Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, chair of the Southeastern Mindanao Regional Peace and Order Council, said.
(This was written by lawyer Raissa Jajurie, Mindanao coordinator of the Sentro ng Alternatibong Lingap Panligal [Saligan], shortly after May 14, while still in Sulu. Ms Jajurie gave MindaNews permission to disseminate this but requested that the name of the barangays and town in Sulu be withheld).
I am now in Jolo, using the internet of Notre Dame of Jolo College, the same facility that will be used for Namfrel's Operation Quick Count. Am the sole LENTE (LEgal Network for Truthful Elections) lawyer assigned to Sulu (in fact, there is no taker for Tawi-tawi or Basilan).
This morning, after voting in Jolo where I am registered, I visited a cluster of precincts in (name of barangay and town withheld upon request of author). Grabe… I was really taken aback by the massive cheating in the area. Earlier that day, a voter had been shot dead by a policeman who refused the voter entrance to the precinct.
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/22 May) – Fourteen of 39 Lanao del Sur towns where a failure of election was declared on May 14 will hold special elections on Saturday.
ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews/May 21) – About a thousand persons gathered in front of the legislative building here today to protest the transfer of ballot boxes to the Mindanao Civic Center (MCC) in Tubod, Lanao del Norte, where the provincial canvassing is held.
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/20 May) – Questions are rife on whether Malacanang would still give funding for the reconstruction of Bangkerohan Bridge here after Dabawenyos voted in favor of the Genuine Opposition senatorial ticket.
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/19 May) – The National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) in Maguindanao- Shariff Kabunsuan has decided to exclude Maguindanao’s election results in their quick count even if the Election Returns (ERs) will be made available to them soon.
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews / May 18) – For the National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) and the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), almost all political candidates in Misamis Oriental and Cagayan de Oro City cheated and bought votes to ensure their victory.
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/16 May)– Foreign observers find elections in the Philippines as "too complicated," "prone to fraud," and with overbearing presence of a military that has "gone over the permissible action."
ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews/May 17)– "This is Philippine election, girl," said the teacher helping the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) when asked why they had recorded only 20 precincts the past two days.
TACURONG CITY (MindaNews/16 May) — Leaders of the National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) in Sultan Kudarat are smelling something fishy over the delayed arrival of election returns and certificates of canvass from various parts of the province to the canvassing venue at the provincial capitol in nearby Isulan town.
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/16 May) — The chief of the "undermanned" Operation Quick Count here organized by the National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) and the Catholic Church's National Secretariat for Social Action (Nassa) cannot assure a quick count, but said they would rather have an "accurate count."
KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/13 May) – An election watchdog in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) has called on all voters in the region to “come out on May 14 and exercise their rights to suffrage wisely.”
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/10 May) — Corruption among officials of the Commission on Elections is perceived to be the weakest link in Philippine elections, according to a survey conducted by the Ateneo de Davao University (ADDU).
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/06 May) — The Commission on Elections’ list of candidates for senators, party-list groups and local officials sent to voters in the form of a pamphlet or posted on the website for the benefit of oversees absentee voters, contains asterisks alongside the names of senatorial candidates or party-list groups with pending cases before the elections body or the Supreme Court.
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/2 May) – Twenty one civil society representatives from six countries with majority or significant Muslim populations will be deployed to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao’s (ARMM) six provinces and one city next week to monitor the conduct of elections there.
