30 foreigners in town to observe polls

SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga , Philippines   â€“ Thirty foreign election observers are in the country for today’s electoral process to keep watch particularly in six areas with history of election-related violence.

The foreigners were invited by the Compact for Peaceful and Democratic Elections (COMPACT) to be part of the “International Team Bantay,” in line with its international observers’ mission (IOM) for the elections.

The observers from 30 countries have grouped themselves into six teams, each one tasked to monitor the elections in Pampanga, Cagayan, Camarines Sur, Masbate, Cebu, and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Eight of the visitors, headed by a German lecturer, arrived here last Saturday to observe the gubernatorial race between incumbent Gov. Lilia Pineda and former governor and priest Ed Panlilio.

 â€œWe are also interested in the elections in the second district of Pampanga where former President Arroyo is running for reelection for Congress despite her being under hospital arrest and not being able to campaign at all,” said German lecturer Daniel Mann in a press conference yesterday.

Mann said his team had already interviewed some candidates, but noted the difficulty in getting an interview with Pineda.

COMPACT national coordinator Arnold Tarrobago said aside from Pampanga, the foreigners would visit today voting precincts in Cagayan, Camarines Sur, Masbate, Cebu, and the ARMM.

The foreigners will collate their observations and make recommendations, which would be forwarded to “the public in general, concerned government agencies, as well as the diplomatic corps.”

Tarrobago said the observers are particularly interested in the congressional race between Leni Robredo and Nelly Villafuerte in the third district of Camarines Sur, the gubernatorial race between ARMM officer-in-charge Mujiv Hataman and Paz Mangudadatu in ARMM and in Masbate among Fr. Leo Casas, reelectionist Gov. Rizalina Seachon-Lanete and Rep. Antonio Kho.

“They are interested on how these local electoral contests will play out three years into the term of President Aquino who himself won the 2010 elections under the banner of political reforms,” he said.

Tarrobago said the six areas were chosen for international monitoring based on their “history on election-related violence, fraud and political clans, capability of the local civil society organizations doing the election monitoring, and security and safety of the foreign election observers.”

Convened in 2004, COMPACT is a consortium of non-government and civil society organizations to address the growing incidence of election-related violence allegedly committed by both the state and non-state actors.