BY ABNER BOLOS
Gitnang Luzon News Service
Posted by Bulatlat
ELECTION WATCH/ BREAKING NEWS
May 16, 2007 – 4:05 p.m.

NUEVA ECIJA—The People’s International Observers Mission (IOM) team in Nueva Ecija witnessed today a crowd of more than five hundred people massing up in front of the Guimba town hall in protest of alleged poll irregularities.

The protesters who swelled to a thousand want a suspension of the canvassing of votes in Guimba town which they say is riddled with irregularities.

Three candidates running for mayor have joined together and gathered their supporters to file an election protest against mayoral candidate Jose Francis Dizon, brother of the incumbent mayor Bopet Dizon. Jose Francis Dizon is allied with the powerful Joson clan in Nueva Ecija.

Protestors have already climbed over walls and rushed through the gates to defy a barricade put-up by soldiers and police.

The protesters cheered and taunted as an armored personnel carrier (APC) trained its turret on the crowd before backing up at a side gate. The soldiers closed the glass door entrance of the town hall to prevent the people from entering the building.

Soldiers have been deployed in the entire province since it was placed under COMELEC control last April. At least ten soldiers and an armored personnel carrier have been deployed at the Guimba town hall since canvassing of votes started last May 14.

Negotiations are still on-going to allow the protesters continue their mass actions. Among the leaders of the protesters is Angel Santos, one of three mayoral candidates of Guimba.

Guimba, a first-class municipality in the province of Nueva Ecija, has 56,608 registered voters for the 2007 elections

The IOM has so far witnessed widespread irregularities such as intimidation of poll watchers, delays in the canvass of votes at the municipal level, vote-padding by barangay officials and the unlawful presence of barangay and municipal officials in polling precincts and canvassing centers.

The mission findings will be presented to the public in a conference to be held in Quezon City on May 18. (Bulatlat.com)

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