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The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will investigate allegations of massive electoral fraud in Maguindanao.

Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos told reporters yesterday he had set up a task force to look into the allegations challenging the credibility of the electoral system.

“The electoral system is being attacked here and it’s not good,” Abalos said.

The task force will be headed by Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento who is in charge of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), of which Maguindanao is a constituent province.

The Genuine Opposition has charged that the elections in Maguindanao had been rigged, and a teacher has admitted taking part in electoral fraud in that province.

On the other hand, Team Unity welcomed yesterday any investigation into alleged cheating in the last elections.

Tourism Secretary Ace Durano, TU spokesman, said the pro-administration coalition espoused an election based on a development agenda and an electoral process that was peaceful and honest from the very beginning of the campaign.

“I believe Team Unity’s campaign group held true to this,” he said.

“Regretfully, it is clear that our electoral process is so flawed. The best thing we can do now is to work together and cooperate with Namfrel and Comelec in clearing and cleansing contested election results through whatever means possible, so this election will come to a close.”

Aggressive electoral reforms must be pursued in the next three years to avoid new allegations of electoral fraud in the 2010 elections, Durano added.

However, Eastern Samar Gov. Ben Evardone, TU media director, said the GO could be behind a “crude but coordinated” effort to discredit the May 14 senatorial elections.

GO and other anti-Arroyo forces were raising “manufactured stories of electoral fraud” and falling for every “tall tale on cheating” that was being fed to them, he added.

Evardone said the “complaining and the griping” are directly related to the ascendant status of TU bets in the Comelec count, the latest tally of which showed five of its candidates already in the winning slate.

Based on voting trends and voters’ sentiment, the TU has the “reasonable expectation” of getting from six to eight candidates in the Magic 12, he added.

Evardone said TU has anchored its roadmap to victory primarily on an estimated voters’ pool of five to six million called the “command votes.”

The 12-0 vote for TU in Maguindanao was decided after the political leaders, all of them pro-administration, conducted public consultations with their followers, he added.

A total of 34 towns nationwide have voted straight TU, and that more of “12-0 votes” were expected to enter the tally soon, Evardone said.

Amid allegations of cheating, the Comelec said yesterday it is considering declaring a failure of elections in 100 more areas in ARMM, including Maguindanao province.

Comelec commissioners are meeting en banc today to discuss and determine whether a failure of elections should be declared in two more municipalities, a barangay and 97 precincts in the ARMM.

Sarmiento said a mayoral candidate in Indanan, Sulu filed a petition to declare a failure of elections in 13 barangays.

He had received reports that elections were not held in one barangay and 50 precincts in Basilan and in two precincts in Tawi-Tawi, he added.

The Comelec en banc has already set a special election in 13 municipalities in Lanao del Sur on May 26.

Earlier, Marawi Bishop Edwin dela Peña called on the Comelec to declare a failure of elections in Maguindanao following reports of irregularities.

“There should be special elections in Mindanao because there was no election that happened there,” Dela Peña said over Catholic Church-run Radio Veritas yesterday.

Dela Peña said most voters in Maguindanao have become indifferent to elections, frustrated by a lack of secrecy in voting precincts.

“There are many cases there where sample ballots with money are distributed even inside precincts,” he said.

It would be impossible for TU to sweep the elections in Maguindanao “since people here don’t vote as a bloc and they can’t be dictated even by the Datu,” Dela Peña said.

The Liberal Party also asked the Comelec to declare a failure of elections in Maguindanao after the pro-administration Team Unity was accused of massive cheating in that province.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, Sen. Franklin Drilon, LP president, said they were not given copies of the election returns from Maguindanao despite the LP’s being declared the dominant minority party by the Comelec.

“Whatever we do, we cannot present any evidence at this point because the documents that were supposed to be given to us did not reach us so we could guard against this fraud,” he said.

“We are supporting the snowballing public clamor that the Comelec should investigate on its own, without waiting for a complainant of election irregularities in Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur and other areas of concern.”

Drilon said he could not understand why the Comelec could easily declare failure of elections or withhold proclamation of winners in other areas except Maguindanao, where TU’s 12-0 victory was being questioned by various sectors.

“So where are these ERs?” he asked. “Give us a copy and we will show you how the fraud was committed.”

Drilon said Sarmiento should stop acting “like the Philippine National Police” by saying that complaints must be filed first against erring personnel before any investigation would be conducted.

“There is a doctrine called res ipsa loquitor in law, meaning, ‘the thing speaks for itself’,’” he said.

“We are urging the Comelec to exclude, as the Namfrel has done, the returns from Maguindanao, the same being highly questionable.”

Drilon said the Comelec was already in the process of voiding the elections in Biñan, Laguna, while in Muntinlupa, there were already petitions to declare a failure of elections.

“This is unusual, that the standards are different in different areas,” he said.

“As we said, there is such a thing as the document or the thing speaking for itself. You have (Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis) ‘Chavit’ Singson as No. 1 in Maguindanao and (Sulu Sultan Jamalul) Kiram being No. 12. These things speak for themselves.”

Drilon said the Comelec should stand up for what is right, and immediately correct all the irregularities.

“The Liberal Party expresses outrage over the reported massive and blatant election day and canvassing irregularities, especially in these areas alleged to be bailiwicks of this administration,” he said.

“At the outset, let me remind Malacañang and the Comelec that the integrity and credibility of the May 14 elections are paramount to the survival of democracy in the country.”

Three poll watchdogs also called yesterday on the Comelec to investigate the claim of an unidentified teacher that she took part in electoral fraud in Maguindanao.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, officials of the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel), Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) and Legal Network for Truthful Elections (Lente) said the teacher’s statement is reason enough for the poll body to investigate claims that the alleged fraud is part of a larger scheme to manipulate election results in favor of the pro-administration Team Unity coalition.

Lawyer Carlos Medina, co-convenor of Lente, said the Comelec should start the probe even before any party raises a complaint.

“What we want is to determine the truth in these allegations,” he said. “As watchdogs, we are here only to monitor the electoral process and determine the situations of irregularities.”

Medina said the teacher wants to remain anonymous at this point.

“She remains quiet, but she’s safe, and only a limited number of people know about her case. She is not in our custody.”

Namfrel chairman Edward Go said the Comelec should seriously look into the allegations, which affect a significant number of voters.

“Comelec should check if their people did perform their roles,” he said.

“They have the administrative responsibility to conduct elections properly and the judicial role of determining truth in cases of poll fraud.”

Howard Calleja, PPCRV national legal counsel, said there were irregularities in the conduct of elections and the counting of votes in Maguindanao.

Last Sunday, Namfrel said it would exclude from its national quick count all votes from Maguindanao after its volunteers were prevented by election officials from securing copies of election returns in the province.

The returns were withheld by election officials at the Maguindanao provincial capitol where centralized counting of votes from 22 municipalities were being held, according to Namfrel secretary-general Eric Alvia.

“(It was a) systematic withholding of the ERs to Namfrel that casts doubt on the integrity of the sixth copy of the election returns,” he said.

Earlier reports said the canvassing in Maguindanao, which has 336,000 voters, had been completed with senatorial candidate Luis Singson of Team Unity making it to the top spot. —Sheila Crisostomo, Mayen Jaymalin, Aurea Calica, Edu Punay