A failure of elections in Bogo? It seems so!

While the Philippine National Police (PNP) already declared that elections in Cebu last May 10 was peaceful and orderly, allow me to present a dissenting opinion. Their assessment wasn’t entirely correct or even truthful because of the standoff that happened in Pulangbato, Bogo City. We have long known that Bogo City would be a major hotspot; in fact, we know that Rep. Benhur Salimbangon made a request to place Bogo under Comelec control, but that request unfortunately fell upon deaf ears.

I really don’t know why Provincial Election Officer Lionel Marco Castillano failed to place Bogo under Comelec control, when in fact after the Bogo elections in the year 2007, on July 9, SunStar Cebu Chief photographer Alex Badayos who was covering a Comelec attempt to retrieve four election returns that were supposed to be canvassed in Manila was bodily harmed by Martinez supporters. The case is still pending in court on this incident which is enough reason to place Bogo under Comelec control.

Because of the failure of the Comelec to ensure a peaceful and honest elections in Bogo, an incident erupted last May 10 that many of us saw on tv, where vehicles belonging to Bogo Mayor Celestino “Junnie” Martinez blocked the road along Pulangbato to prevent Rep. Benhur Salimbangon from joining his supporters who allegedly were not allowed by the Bogo Mayor to enter the polling place. This was what we gathered from a presscon that Rep. Benhur Salimbangon gave at the Baseline Restaurant yesterday.

During the presscon, Rep. Benhur said his vehicle was blocked by vehicles belonging to the Martinez camp, preventing him from going anywhere. Then Mrs. Clavel Martinez demanded that his vehicles be searched for weapons even without a search warrant. In blocking the road, Mayor Martinez also blocked an Army Simba armored vehicle and a military truck. Worse, Sen. Supt. Edgardo Ingking and Police Insp. Etuma of the PNP was interviewed saying that there was nothing wrong with the incident.

It is unimaginable that two high-ranking police officers, including a military Simba could not stop a Mayor from blocking the road. In my book it’s a total breakdown of law and order. Because the Comelec failed to put Bogo under its control, Bogo was now under the control of Mayor Martinez. As Rep. Benhur told the media, Mayor Martinez was virtually ordering all the PNP and Army around like they were his minions.

Because of this incident, Rep. Benhur would be filing a criminal case of illegal detention against the Martinezes and Mariquita Salimbangon Yeung will be filing an electoral protest, not because she lost, but because there was indeed a failure of elections because as Benhur said, the Pulangbato was used by the Martinez camp as a ruse to do their operations with the rest of Bogo, while everyone’s attention was focused in Pulangbato.

Were it not for Regional (PRO-7) PNP Chief Lani-O Nerez who had to drive all the way to Bogo early dawn, the Pulangbato incident could have gone worse, like the infamous Maguindanao massacre by the Ampatuans. All the elements were there - an angry politician, their supporters, the media, including innocent bystanders on a bus. It was a perfect ambush situation that even the police and military forces on the ground couldn’t defuse. It had to take the PNP PRO Chief to go to Bogo to stop that nonsense!

The Bogo incident should be more than enough reason to declare a failure of elections (FoE) so that Bogo residents can get a chance to vote without fear of being terrorized by political warlords. This incident is the first acid test of the Liberal Party (LP) as this is worse than corruption that they vowed to eradicate. What President-elect Noynoy Aquino will do in Bogo will be watched by the entire nation, whether or not this is the change that he promised us Filipinos.

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While former Defense Sec. Gibo Teodoro Jr. and Sen. Manny Villar has already conceded to Sen. Aquino, let me be the first to ask questions about the credibility of this elections as it doesn’t follow a logical pattern. In the Province of Cebu, Gov. Gwen Garcia won a total of 591,214 votes over Davide’s 474,519 in 88.46% of the vote. Sen. Noynoy got 541,920; Gibo got 246,929 votes; Villar got only 150,384 votes; while Erap got only 45,524 votes.

In the Vice-Presidential race, Sen. Mar Roxas got 589,310; Binay was second at 226,278; while Sen. Loren got only 91,378 votes. One Cebu supported Legarda and the LP supported Roxas; no political party carried Binay. Yet Binay emerged as second in the VP race, which is to say that least, a puzzlement! As Erap only got 45,524 votes, something fishy is going on. Did we really have credible elections?