Early Election Returns Show Administration Party,
Leftist Party-list Group Among The Leaders
By Bulatlat.com
MANILA
(May 15) –
The day after what is billed as the proxy election contest between ousted
president Joseph Estrada and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Filipinos
awaited with mixed emotions the results of yesterday’s national and local
elections. Aboard jeepneys and buses, FX Tamaraws and private cars, droves of
people going back to work listened excitedly to radio and TV news announcing the
partial results of yesterday’s elections.
But
it will take at least one or two more months before the final results will be
out courtesy of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), the government poll body
supervising the elections.
Comelec
officials said the voting turn-out was bigger than in the last (1998) – 85
percent or 30.6 million of some 36 million voters. They trooped to some 234,259
precincts nationwide to pick their choices from thousands of candidates vying
for 17,600 elective positions – including 13 senatorial and 53 party-list
seats in Congress.
The
bigger turn-out was due to the fact that the elections was more than just a
contest for the Senate, House and local seats. It was a proxy war between the
jailed Estrada, who still claims the presidency, and Macapagal-Arroyo, who needs
to win as many partisan seats in Congress as possible to ensure political
support for her major legislations, among other reasons.
Party-list
But
yesterday’s heavy election turn-out was also boosted by the entry of more
party-list groups – now totaling 162 – vying for representation in the
House. In the 1987 constitution, workers, farmers, women, handicapped people and
other marginal sectors are entitled to at least 50 seats in Congress through the
party list system. For the first time, the better-organized and broadly-based
Left fielded its party-list group – Bayan Muna (People First) – which
injected an ideological dimension to an otherwise traditional and
personality-oriented electoral circus.
Many
new party-list entries have been the object of Comelec protests for being mere
dummies of either traditional parties or non-marginal groups. Among such groups
is Mamamayan Laban sa Droga (MAD or People Against Drugs). MAD, during the
Estrada administration, was a government-initiated campaign machinery against
the proliferation of prohibited drugs funded mostly by Filipino-Chinese
businessmen. Its nominees are either political allies or police generals of the
disgraced president.
Indeed,
early tabulations by the private National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel)
showed MAD – backed by strong logistics and by a popular actor-turned
politician – leading in the party-list race with 29,384 votes, followed
closely by Bayan Muna, with 19,016 votes. Trailing were PROMDI, Veterans
Volunteers of the Philippines (VFP) and Akbayan. APEC and Abanse! Pinay, which
topped the party-list contest in 1998, were 8th and 11th,
respectively.
As
of 8 p.m., Bayan Muna’s own tabulation showed 118,527 votes cast for the
party-list group or almost 50 percent of 253,299 votes reportedly cast in the
category.
At
the Bayan Muna national headquarters in a suburban subdivision in Quezon City,
volunteers kept themselves busy monitoring election returns from the provinces,
complete with computer systems that could give an update from any point of the
archipelago. Reports come from election volunteers and campaigners who are now
keeping a tight watch on the canvassing of votes as well as on incidence of
fraud and other irregularities.
Orchestrated
black propaganda
A
few days before May 14, Bayan Muna became the object of what appeared to be an
orchestrated black propaganda attack from its rival party-list groups Sanlakas,
Partido ng Manggagawa, Akbayan and the Partido Demokratikong Sosyalista ng
Pilipinas (PDSP). The groups linked Bayan Muna to reports of alleged executions
of despotic and drug syndicates-backed politicians by the Marxist New People’s
Army (NPA). Akbayan official and firebrand congresswoman Etta Rosales accused
the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) of tolerating the
alleged killings and demanded these be raised by the government panel in the
ongoing peace talks.
Right
on the eve of election day, three Bayan Muna volunteers posting campaign
paraphernalia in Quezon City were mauled by identified Sanlakas campaigners with
aluminum baseball bats. The three victims had to be rushed to the hospital due
to serious injuries (one suffered a three-inch cut in the head).
Bayan
Muna, which had been topping election surveys in the party-list contest, was
also the target of a “dagdag-bawas” plot by some major political parties,
including one closely identified with the Macapagal-Arroyo administration.
“Dagdag-bawas” is Filipino for vote padding-shaving. Party-list insiders
were confident however that barring any major poll cheating, Bayan Muna’s
nominees for Congress would win hands down and would take their three places in
the Lower House.
As
of 6 p.m. today, unofficial results showed administration candidates from the
People’s Power Coalition (PPC) leading in the senatorial race, with close to
two million votes counted. In the first 13 were nine PPC candidates, three from
the pro-Estrada Puwersa ng Masa (PnM – Masses’ Power) and one independent,
who was also carried by PnM. They were: Noli de Castro (independent), Juan
Flavier (PPC), Franklin Drilon (PPC), Joker Arroyo (PPC), Serge Osmeña III (PPC),
Francisco Pangilinan (PPC), Ramon Magsaysay, Jr. (PPC), Manuel Villar (PPC),
Edgardo Angara (PnM), Ralph Recto (PPC), Wigberto Tañada (PPC), Miriam Defensor-Santiago
(PnM) and Panfilo Lacson (PnM).
Trailing
them were Loi Estrada (PnM), Gregorio Honasan (PnM), Ricardo Puno (PnM), Juan
Ponce Enrile (PnM), Winnie Monsod (PPC), Orlando Mercado (PnM), Perfecto Yasay
(independent), Liwayway V. Chato (PPC) and Santanina Rasul (PnM).
Exit
polls
Exit
polls conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed an 8-4-1 senatorial
result, in favor of PPC.
Meanwhile,
Namfrel chairman Jose Concepcion, Jr. disputed claims of a big voters turn-out
as he revealed the exclusion of at least two million voters from the
computerized voters list in Metro Manila. He blamed Comelec commissioner Luz
Tancangco for it, saying that her system of precinct backing and voters
verification were impractical.
Concepcion
vowed to file charges against Tancangco and other poll officials for
inculpability, right after the elections.
As in the 1998 elections, votes cast in the party-list race were expected to be low given the lack of awareness and confusion among many voters. This was seen among many voters at the Payatas elementary school and other precincts in Quezon City observed by Bulatlat.com. Party-list groups attributed the low awareness level to Comelec’s lack of drive in informing the electorate about the party-list contest. Many party-list groups had limited resources to do the information campaign themselves. With reports from Elvie Rosas Imperial, Janette O. Gonzales and Meliza Dellosa Espaldon