Anak Mindanao says no to postponement of polls, no to appointment

This has been the position of Anak Mindanao Party List even prior to the passage of the Senate’s version postponing the ARMM Election and synchronizes it with the 2013 mid-national elections of the country. We just want to reiterate this position.

We have expressed our position and we are not alone with this. Surveys and our own study showed that the local populations and leaders of ARMM are calling for elections as scheduled. Only Malacanang and the new elites are in the position for postponement. But Malacanang has been successful in forcing the bill to pass in the Senate.

AMIN vehemently opposed to ARMM Election postponement and appointments contrary to the position of Malacanang and the President. This is not only divisive albeit, violates the Philippine Constitution and the creation of the autonomous region but also takes for granted the struggles of the peoples in ARMM for self-governance and harmony. Yes, this is true that ARMM needs reform, but the Palace can institute reforms involving the majority masses and by fulfilling the peoples’ democratic right to choose their leaders. Why deny the people from such right? It is the sole duty of the state to fulfill as such and secure to the highest the sanctity of that right and the whole democratic process.

This is also to inform the general public that, we, from Anak Mindanao Party List strongly denies the group claiming to be Anak Mindanao personalities. AMIN never supported postponement nor endorsed candidates for election and or appointment. These persons are using AMIN as their political organization only to have base and credibility for elective and appointive posts in ARMM. On the issue of legitimacy, these persons were expelled from the party during the 4th National Special Congress called by the Executive Committee on February 1-2, 2008 due to actuations and behavior contrary to the principles of Anak Mindanao. In addition, these groups lead by Mr. Isa Del Monte and Mujiv Hataman are instrumental in sowing intrigues, division and confusions to the whole membership.

Our appeal to Malacanang, Hear the peoples’ voices! Join them in reforming the region and do not impose anything over them. Journey and walk with them in the “matuwid na daan” and not simply put them to your “matuwid na daan.”

Dear Mr. President Aquino III, we only want to remind you of your “KAYO ANG BOSS KO!” pronouncement. Is this for real?

To the general public, ANAK MINDANAO Party List will never take advantage any political climate and opportunities for the party and individuals alone instead it should be to the best interest of all marginalized Mindanaoans that it will always uphold.

Related to our website, it was shut down due to maintenance problem but we will be back on air very soon. Our gratitude to Mindanao Tri-People Youth Center which temporarily host this current AMIN website.

Elizabeth M. Padilla
National President
5th National Congress
Anak Mindanao (AMIN) Party List

Poll watchdog pushes automation of ARMM election

ROMY ELUSFA
COTABATO CITY—An election watchdog, which earlier pushed for the postponement of the election in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao to facilitate electoral reforms, has strongly suggested an automation in the coming political exercise if the voting pushes through in August.
The call for the automation of election was called by the Citizens Coalition for ARMM Electoral Reform (C-CARE), an election watchdog, following published reports of a plan to revert to manual voting the August 8 political exercise in the so-called “cheating capital in the Philippines.”
Earlier, it was reported that the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) was contemplating of reverting to manual voting the election in ARMM, citing deficiencies of the PCOS machines used in the last presidential election.
The Citizen’s CARE had wanted to move the voting in ARMM and synchronize it with the national elections to give the Comelec ample time to implement electoral reforms like the cleansing of the voters’ list in the region.
But if the government is bent on pursuing the ARMM election in August, the Citizen’s CARE said that the “matuwid na daan (right path) to do it is to still use the PCOS machines used in the last presidential elections.”
Frustrated that their earlier call for the postponement of the ARMM elections was unheeded, Jumda Sabaani, chair of C-CARE, said: “If the government could no longer buy a bit of time to institutionalize electoral reform before conducting any election in the autonomous region, then it should not even entertain reverting back to the manual voting.”
Sabaani said if ever some of the PCOS machines malfunctioned in the last Presidential election, “still the result of that political exercise was far better from any of the manual voting that we have had in the past. So, I could not understand why we should revert back to manual voting, especially in the ARMM, which everyone knows is the cheating capital in the Philippines.”
The C-CARE claimed that many Filipinos, “especially the residents of this so-called cheating capital of the country, have enliven hopes for meaningful change under the present administration, but if this government allows a reversal to manual election in the ARMM, that will simply make the pronouncement of taking the matuwid na daan a lip service—a moro-moro.”
“Let this set the record straight: We were for the postponement of the ARMM election because we know a lot of electoral reforms need to be set in place and it would be best for this government to see these reforms initially realized before any election could be again done in the country. For one, there is a need to clean the voters list in ARMM. But since government is entertaining to pursue with the election in August, the more that it should use the PCOS machines despite real defects that the machines have,” said Sabaani.
Sabaani’s group, which bragged of more than 20 member organizations in ARMM, reminded the government that “the scale of election fraud and violence in the ARMM remains high and requires citizen’s active vigilance to ensure transparent, credible, honest, safe and clean polls. But if government itself will allow reversal to manual election, all efforts of the people will be rendered futile.”
The Citizen’s CARE said that while manual election may cost lesser than an automated one, “the savings from the difference could not compensate for the fraud, manipulation, tampering of votes and even manufacturing election returns that we all know have always happen in ARMM.”

Sabaani also noted that an automated voting could save a lot of time for the entire election process, citing the fact that transporting election returns from many areas in ARMM could take even two days due to some villages’ inaccessibility to land transportation.

She stressed that “transporting of ballot boxes and election returns has already been proven very vulnerable to all sorts of election frauds and violence, hence, we could not really understand why government should even consider reverting to manual election in ARMM.”

The Board of Election Inspectors, in an automated election, need not extend time in manning polling places that actually exposes them all the more to fraud and violence,” Sabaani said.

She suggested for government to instead “immediately fix the defective machines, which they could have done a long time ago.”

She said that the Senate and the Comelec should instead “use all means to protect the integrity of votes of the electorate in ARMM. The lawmakers must appropriate and approved sufficient budget to allow the election body to purchase “much better and more reliable election machines.” ###

ARMM poll synchronization will aid Mindanao peace process - Deles

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