Poll automation may trigger rise in election-related violence

MANILA, Philippines - Poll automation may prevent cheating, but it can also trigger a rise in election-related violence.

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Jose Melo said yesterday poll-related violence might become more widespread due to the implementation of the first computerized elections in the country.

Since candidates could no longer cheat their way to victory, Melo said there might be more politicians who would opt to simply get rid of their opponents in the coming May 2010 elections.

He cited the massacre of 57 people in Maguindanao last Nov. 23 as the most brutal election-related killings in the country.

But he expressed hope that the incident would not be repeated.

“With everyone’s attention on that case, I don’t think that kind of wholesale violence can happen again,” Melo said.

He noted that the implementation of a strict gun ban would help minimize election-related violence in the country.

The gun ban took effect yesterday.

Only members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Philippine National Police (PNP), and other government security agencies on official duty and in full uniform are allowed to carry firearms during the election period.

Aside from the gun ban, the Comelec also prohibits the transfer and suspension of government officials and employees.

Rise in political violence

Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales also lamented the unmistakable rise in political violence with politicians resorting to killing their rivals rather than facing them in elections.

Gonzales said the National Security Council has been monitoring the rise in incidents of political violence as elections draw near.

He attributed the increased violence to the number of existing loose firearms, which has reached over a million and have found their way to the hands of politicians who keep private armed groups (PAGs).

He asked members of the Bishop Ulama Conference (BUC) interfaith group to help in the effort to dismantle private armies during his visit to Davao City yesterday.

“I commit to you the Armed Forces of the Philippines, but on one condition that you help us in the effort to eliminate private armies,” Gonzales told the BUC members who attended the 38th general assembly at the Waterfront Insular Hotel Davao over the weekend.

Gonzales attended the BUC meeting with ranking officials of the AFP and the Department of National Defense (DND).

He said as much as possible, the campaign against PAGs would be done with less violence.

“It is through negotiations with private armies that we can do it with less violence. And we ask the BUC to convince those who keep arms to please surrender their arms,” the defense chief stressed.

He asked particularly the Ulama group because most private armies are in Muslim-dominated areas.

ARMM has most PAGs

Police chief Director General Jesus Verzosa said in the PNP’s last “validation process,” 68 groups have been confirmed as PAGs.

Of the number, 25 are in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) while 43 are outside the region.

Aside from the PAGs, the BUC general assembly also tackled issues on loose firearms and the May 10 elections.

Cabinet Secretary Silvestre Bello III said asking for the help of the BUC in addressing the problem on PAGs is a good approach.

“It is a right move and all sectors should be involved in the effort to eliminate private armies,” Bello, who also arrived in Davao for a series of engagements in the region, said.

Davao Archbishop and BUC co-convenor Fernando Capalla said the meeting with the AFP, DND, PNP and Comelec officials was a learning experience for religious leaders.

“On our part as religious leaders, we will reflect on their talks, listen to them so that later on after a prayerful discernment we can make moral judgment and that way we can help our constituents in our fervent hope for a lasting peace,” Capalla said.

‘Disband PAGs or face the law’

Police and military senior officials in Basilan also warned political leaders with PAGs to voluntarily disband their ranks or face the law.

Verzosa and Western Mindanao Command Chief Lt. Gen. Ben Dolorfino, on a visit to Basilan, said dismantling PAGs would be their top priority.

Dolorfino cited Basilan as among areas to be given priority because of a number of private armies and the tension among political leaders.

He said they have already identified 91 PAGs in Western Mindanao alone, including Tawi-Tawi with three PAGs; Sulu, 24; Basilan, 10; Zamboanga Sibugay, 2; Zamboanga del Sur, 9; Zamboanga del Norte, 5; Lanao del Norte, 15; and Lanao del Sur, 23.

A senior police official said they are also closely monitoring the movements of the PAGs in Sulu where elections are hotly contested.

Dolorfino said with the implementation of election laws, they are expecting the immediate cooperation of judges in the issuance of the warrants.

Basilan Gov. Jum Akbar said they are ready to follow what was agreed on between the police and the military in an effort to cut down the number of forces securing them, especially during the election period.

But Akbar expressed apprehension that cutting down of the number of their security might put them at risk, citing the killing of her husband Rep. Wahab Akbar in the December 2008 Batasan bombing incident in Quezon City.

“With what happened to us, it will not be enough to have only four security personnel. But whatever was agreed on we will follow,” Akbar said.

Under the Comelec guidelines, governors are only allowed to have four uniformed police and four military escorts, while congressmen and mayors can have two security escorts each.

To assuage local leaders’ fears, Verzosa directed the deployment of additional forces in areas considered critical to augment the present security personnel.

He said they are deploying one company each of the Special Action Force (SAF) in Sulu, Basilan, and Lanao del Norte.

No private armies in Metro

Politicians in Metro Manila are not maintaining private armies, Verzosa said.

But he ordered the close monitoring of 10 cities in Metro Manila because of election-related violent incidents (ERVIs) in the past.

“Ten of the 17 cities and a municipality of the National Capital Region are considered election watch list areas,” he said.

While Metro Manila has no private armies, Verzosa reported that there are 68 PAGs all over the country, excluding the provinces comprising the ARMM.

In a report submitted to Melo, Region 1 topped the list with the most number of PAGs at nine, followed by Regions 8 and 2, with eight and six, respectively.

Regions 6 and 4-A have five PAGs each, Regions 5 and 7 with three each, Region 3 with two, and Region 13 and the Cordillera Region with one each.

The NCR, Region 4B, and Region 10 have no PAGs.

NCR Police Office chief Director Roberto Rosales said dismantling the so-called “mayor’s squad” would contribute largely to the peaceful and orderly conduct of the May elections in Metro Manila.

“The mayor’s squad sometimes acts as private armies of politicians. But with their dismantling, we are confident that the possibility of violence in the coming elections would greatly diminish,” Rosales said.

The five district directors of the NCRPO reported that police detachments in 17 cities and a municipality in Metro Manila were abolished last Jan. 7.

The NCRPO chief ordered the validation of reports that elements of the so-called mayor’s squad continue to engage in illegal activities like the collection of grease money from criminal gangs.

Rosales identified the cities they are monitoring as Caloocan City with three ERVIs; Manila, Pasay City, Malabon City, Quezon City, and Makati City, with two ERVIs each; and Pasig City, Valenzuela City, Marikina City and Paranaque, one each. 

Dismantle para-military groups

Meanwhile, an umbrella organization of activists called on the government to immediately dismantle all para-military groups in the country as the election period officially began Sunday.

The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said para-military groups have been the basis of private armies of many local politicians nationwide, which came to the fore in the Nov. 23 massacre of 57 people, including women, two lawyers, and 30 journalists.

“The dismantling of all para-military units and armed civilian groups is imperative if private armies and local warlords are to be eliminated. It is a well-known fact that these armed civilians are being used by local politicians as their own private armies,” said Renato Reyes Jr., secretary-general of Bayan.

Reyes stressed that it would only be sound for the government to revoke Executive Order 546, which purportedly provides that barangay officials could be used as “force multipliers” in the government’s anti-insurgency campaign.

Aside from dismantling civilian volunteer organizations (CVOs), Bayan called on the government to dissolve the Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Units (CAFGUs), which it said “also has the potential of being used as private armies of warlords.”

“The most dangerous kind of private army is one that gets state-sponsorship. The CVOs involved in the Maguindanao massacre were armed because the State allowed them to be armed. Their weapons came from the government,” Reyes said.

Bayan said it remains to be seen if the so-called list of private armies set down by the PNP includes those from CVOs and para-military groups under the control of local warlords. – Mayen Jaymalin, Edith Regalado, Roel Pareno, Non Alquitran, Katherine Adraneda