Irate watchers attack Maguindanao poll exec

COTABATO CITY — Unfazed by the heavy presence of soldiers, irate poll watchers almost lynched the other day the election officer of Sultan sa Barongis, Maguindanao inside a canvassing site at the camp here of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division.

Soldiers guarding the 6th ID gym, where election returns from different towns in Maguindanao were being tabulated, promptly intervened, saving Bai Haydee Mamalinta from the angry mob, some about to whip her with belts.

Mamalinta, who sustained contusions on the face and different parts of the body, criticized the 6th ID for having been remiss in its duty to tightly guard the gym to ensure the peaceful canvassing of election returns there.

But Maj. Julieto Ando, 6th ID spokesman, said the soldiers’ quick reaction prevented the crowd from even possibly beating Mamalinta to death.

Mamalinta said the group that attacked her was led by the daughters of re-electionist Sultan sa Barongis Mayor Almansa Angas.

Mamalinta said Angas’ camp could have been irked by her proclamation of the town’s winning mayoral candidate, Datu Abdulkarim Utto.

Bai Diamond Angas, speaking on their camp’s behalf, said it was Mamalinta’s premature proclamation of Utto which sparked the trouble.

She said Mamalinta ordered the exclusion of election returns from several precincts in her father’s bailiwicks without checking first if there was truth to the contention of the rival camp that the returns were rigged in favor of the re-electionist mayor.

Mamalinta said the contested election returns were excluded by the previous election officer who inhibited herself from the canvassing due to the intense rivalry between the Utto and Angas camps.

Sultan sa Barongis is a small, but extremely hostile town. Police and military records showed that there have been nine bloody election-related incidents in the area since February, including the May 15 grenade attack on the campaign headquarters of mayoral candidate Malumpil Utto, which left three persons dead and 17 others seriously wounded.