DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 21 March) – The militant group Barug Katungod Mindanao (Mindanao Stand for Human Rights) expressed fears on Thursday that a repeat of the 2004 “Hello Garci” poll scandal may likely happen again after the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) declared the entire Mindanao as an election hotspot.
COMELEC’s declaration was announced on Tuesday, citing that armed threats and election-related violence across Mindanao were among the reasons that COMELEC En Banc considered to warrant such election hotspot declaration.
“This developed in the wake of suspected election-related incidents in the last two elections, together with serious armed threats posed by the New People’s Army (NPA), Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) and rogue elements of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and/or Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and other analogous groups,” COMELEC said in a statement.
But Aglipayan Bishop Antonio Ablon, convenor of Barug Katungod Mindanao, said the poll body’s declaration was seen as a political effort to influence and manipulate the 2019 mid-term elections that would favor political bets endorsed by President Rodrigo Duterte.
“I would anticipate therefore an election result which would favor the administration’s candidates both senatorial and local to ensure Duterte’s federalism.
[]/a> with |||
The results reporting procedures of the automated election system are fully transparent and protected by multiple redundancies which, by and large, have been proven successful in preventing cheating in the last three automated elections – 2010, 2013, and 2016. There is no reason to fear that it will be otherwise in 2019,” Jimenez said in statement sent to MindaNews Thursday afternoon.
