Military-instigated Fraud and Terror vs Moro Vote Decried

“Long before the May 10 polls,” said Wahab Guialal, Suara Bangsamoro’s lead nominee, “our party-list group had already been the target of political annihilation through the black propaganda campaigns and militarist drives instigated by Mr. Gonzales and his pack of military men - the same hatchet men and bombers of Mindanao who dared point the finger at us and called us ‘threats to national security’ and ‘masters of deception.’”

By Bulatlat.com

Wahab Guialal, Suara Bangsamoro (Voice of the Moro People) lead House nominee over the weekend accused National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) of shaving votes from the party-list group.

Weeks before the May 10 elections, Gonzales had accused Suara Bangsamoro and five other party-list groups of being “front organizations” of the underground Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army.

“Long before the May 10 polls,” said Guialal in a statement e-mailed to Bulatlat.com, “our party-list group had already been the target of political annihilation through the black propaganda campaigns and militarist drives instigated by Mr. Gonzales and his pack of military men - the same hatchet men and bombers of Mindanao who dared point the finger at us and called us ‘threats to national security’ and ‘masters of deception.’”

In an armed protest in Makati City in July last year, a group of junior military officers and enlisted men accused the top brass of the AFP and the Department of National Defense of instigating bombings in Mindanao to justify the Macapagal-Arroyo administration’s request of additional anti-“terrorist” funds from the U.S. A series of investigations by the Mindanao Truth Commission, a broad formation of lawyers and church leaders, found the military and defense top leadership “unclean” of the bombings.

Today, Guialal said, “Barefacedly, malevolent and spiteful intentions sprayed on their faces, these people are (stealing) the votes of Suara in all forms of fraud and terrorism (they) can muster.”

Lanao del Sur

The Suara Bangsamoro nominee noted, for instance, that the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) had declared some 33 percent of the election returns from the province of Lanao del Sur as spoiled since the total party-list votes reflected in these exceed the number of registered voters.

In Precinct 22-A of Masiu, a municipality in the said province, more than a hundred votes for Suara Bangsamoro were erased from the election returns, Guialal said. He also noted that about 50 votes for Abanse Pinay were transferred to another party-list group, AMIN, also in Masiu.

Actual election returns received by Namfrel showed that in Precinct 14-A of the same municipality, there are 223 actual voters but 224 party-list votes, with 200 of these going to Asalam and only 20 going to Suara Bangsamoro.

In Precinct 29-A of Masiu there are 265 actual voters all in all but there are 460 party-list votes. Of these, 84 votes went to Akbayan, 109 to Aksa, 150 to Asalam, and 107 to Suara Bangsamoro.

In Precinct 19-A in Tugaya town, there are a total of 135 actual voters but party-list groups clinched a total of 279 votes. Of these, 122 went to ALIF, 25 to Asalam and 132 to Banat.

He also said that some election returns from the same province did not show the actual number of registered voters.

Military hand

The Suara Bangsamoro nominee also denounced the military for “direct participation in the conduct of the elections.”

Guialal noted that in Ampatuan, Maguindanao, some 9,000 votes for Suara Bangsamoro were not admitted in the canvassing due to military pressure on the board of canvassers.

He also revealed that in some areas in Mindanao, the canvassing of votes was conducted inside military camps. For instance, he said, Camp Sionco, headquarters of the Philippine Army’s 16^th Infantry Brigade (IB), is the provincial canvassing area for Maguindanao; while the votes from Parang and Matanog towns, also in Maguindanao, were counted in Camp Salipada Pendatun. Camp Bautista, headquarters of the 104^th IB, is Sulu’s provincial counting area, he added.

In Sulu, also in Mindanao, Suara poll watchers complained against Marines and military personnel barring the Board of Election Inspectors from reading and counting Bangsamoro votes. There were other similar reports of military interference in the voting.

“The military along with Mr. Norberto Gonzales are pushing for deceptive, fraudulent and terroristic acts in order to ensure our defeat and bar the genuine representatives of the people from getting seats in Congress, a venue wherein their crimes against the people would be exposed,” said Guialal. “They are terrified that their heydays of terror would be ended.” Bulatlat.com

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