Annul poll results in Dimaporo town, solon asks Comelec

A re-electionist Lanao del Norte congressman petitioned the Commission on Elections yesterday to annul the results of the May 14 elections in the town of Sultan Naga Dimaporo, formerly Karomatan.

In his petition, Rep. Abdullah Mangotara said Karomatan has a long history of election irregularities which were allegedly repeated in the recent polls.

He said a team of observers led by gubernatorial candidate Macabangkit Lanto and who included some local mediamen witnessed such irregularities, and have executed affidavits attesting to what they had seen.

The sworn statements were made part of Mangotara’s petition.

In his affidavit, Lanto, a former ambassador to Egypt, said election forms and other paraphernalia were distributed to the board of election inspections (BEI) in violation of Comelec rules which require that these be given out only in the morning of May 14.

He said the municipal treasurer, Noor Macabato, is an uncle of mayoral candidate Mutalib Dimaporo and should have inhibited himself from any election duty as required by the Election Code.

But the treasurer continued to involve himself in election-related activities in violation of the law, he said.

Khadaffy Monto, a poll watcher and one of the witnesses, testified that six truckloads of voters numbering about 300 were brought to the Sultan Naga Dimaporo Elementary School where they voted from one precinct to another.

"After voting, they boarded their trucks and sped away toward Barangay Bauyan," he said.

Almaira Daksala, another poll watcher, said the board of election inspectors allowed many people to vote in place of those who boycotted the elections.

Worse, she said in one precinct, the BEI counted 20 unused ballots for re-electionist Gov. Imelda Dimaporo and husband Abdullah Dimaporo, who is seeking to replace Mangotara.

Mangotara won in 11 towns over Dimaporo by almost two to one. However, his wide margin was offset by Dimaporo in Karomatan, the hometown of the Dimaporos.

The incumbent solon cited other cases of election irregularities.

He said in many barangays, alleged armed followers of the Dimaporos roamed around the voting places and fired in the air indiscriminately to terrorize voters and election inspectors.

He said many inspectors were allegedly forced to falsify the election returns. In other areas, voting was allegedly done in private houses in violation of the Election Code, he said.

He added that in more than 30 precincts, the number of voters who cast their ballots reportedly exceeded the number of registered voters.

These alleged irregularities should compel the Comelec to annul the results of the election in Sultan Naga Dimaporo, Mangotara said.