Comelec asked to carry out poll reforms in ARMM now

MANILA, Philippines -  Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo has called on the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to start the new registration of voters in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and reassign election officers involved in manipulating the results of past elections.

“There is an urgency for the Comelec to implement the electoral reforms at ARMM because time is running short as the poll body and the region barely have only one year to prepare for the synchronized mid-term elections in May next year,” Robredo said.

He said the new registration of voters and reassignment of election officers are among the electoral reforms sought by the Aquino administration to foster transparency in the region.

“In line with the needed reforms (at the ARMM), the DILG, as one of the catalysts in the reform agenda program of President Aquino, would like to respectfully request the Commission, under your able stewardship, to initiate or cause the introduction of schemes necessary to achieve the reforms intended,” Robredo told Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes in a letter dated last Jan. 26.

Robredo suggested to the poll body to review the assignments of election officers involved in malpractices in past polls, provide a mechanism where cases in pursuit of the reforms should be filed, and carry out voters’ education.

In his letter, Robredo said a new registration of voters is necessary as this will reflect and ensure more truthful participation in ARMM elections.

“The need for a new round of registration is brought by the desire of the President to rid the area of vestiges and illegal operations institutionalized by the former administration that resulted in massive fraud and large-scale disenfranchisement of many bona fide and legitimate voters,” he said.

On the reassignments, Robredo said, “We will find it difficult to generate success if the same unscrupulous election officers will be allowed to remain in their posts.”

Reports said the Comelec would need a P300-million budget to carry out much-needed electoral reforms at the ARMM.

For his part, Maguindanao Gov. Ismael Mangudadatu estimated that the poll body would need at least P75 million, or P25 million for each of the five ARMM provinces (Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi and Sulu) to implement the reforms.

Last December, President Aquino appointed Mujiv Hataman as ARMM officer-in-charge governor until May 2013.

In October last year, the President announced the allotment of P8.59 billion, out of the P72 billion “stimulus fund,” as ARMM transition and investment support fund to stimulate socio-economic development in the impoverished region.