Voters want to stop barangay elections in Ampatuan turf

DATU UNSAY, Maguindanao, Philippines – Voters have been picketing the town hall of detained Datu Andal Ampatuan Jr.’s hometown since Monday to prevent the holding of barangay elections.

This, after only the names of re-electionist barangay officials identified with the Ampatuans appeared on the election paraphernalia they were to use in Monday’s electoral exercise in their respective barangays.

The Army-led Task Group Hope (honest, orderly and peaceful elections) and the multi-sectoral Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) have already recommended a failure of elections to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in all of the more than a dozen barangays here.

Ibrahim Kamar, one of the leaders of voters picketing the municipal hall, said they would only return to their villages if the Comelec replaces all the election materials in question with new ones bearing the names of all candidates for positions in the barangay.

“It’s a grace from Allah that we now have electoral democracy here. It seems there are still unseen hands manipulating the elections here,” said a resident-teacher, who asked not to be identified.

The irate voters were about to storm the town hall Tuesday, but balked when Brig. Gen. Ariel Bernardo, assistant commander of the 6th Infantry Division and concurrent chief of Task Force Hope, Fr. David Procalla of the PPCRV and Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu jointly intervened and assured them they will prod the Comelec to address the issue.

The tension in the surroundings of the town hall worsened Wednesday when voters prevented Maguindanao’s election supervisor, Estelita Orbase, from leaving the municipal town hall to show their indignation over the non-inclusion of the names of neophytes aspiring for the position of chairmen and councilors in different barangays.

“It’s good that the protesting voters agreed to just stay around, restrain themselves and wait for the Comelec’s action on their complaints,” Bernardo said.

Procalla said the voters have accused their election officer of deliberately excluding the names of “new comers” in the list of candidates that was submitted to the Comelec central office as basis for the printing of the election materials.

“To our surprise, only the names of the re-electionist barangay officials, all of them protégés of the Ampatuans, appeared on the ballots we were supposed to use last Monday,” said Bai Sandria, a local resident.

The mayor in Datu Unsay is the first of two wives of Ampatuan Jr., the key suspect in the Nov. 23 massacre.

Procalla said the town’s municipal election officer, Haidee Mamalinta, was responsible for the problem and should exert her best to address the problem.

Mamalinta, an ethnic Maguindanaon, first hogged the headlines during the 2004 elections in South Upi, Maguindanao when she and her subordinates “proclaimed” separately all of the area’s three aspirants for mayor as winners in the mayoralty race.

The controversy left the town without a duly elected mayor for more than two years. The Comelec installed the elected vice mayor as acting mayor after invalidating all of the proclamations.

Comelec ready to step in

Meanwhile, the Comelec said it was already looking into the incident after the PPCRV called on their attention, even as it confirmed that the polls failed to push through once again in 11 barangays in Sulu and one town in Maguindanao last Wednesday.

In an interview, Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento noted the poll body had failed to administer the elections in these Mindanao areas due to election-related violence. – With Sheila Crisostomo