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ARMM Elections Lacks Credibility |
A Muslim lawmaker on Monday called on Congress to hasten a bill that would postpone the scheduled elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) on August 8, citing serious credibility problems faced by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to spearhead an impartial, credible, orderly, peaceful and honest election.
Rep. Mujiv Hataman (Anak Mindanao Party-List) predicted a chaotic political exercise that could be marred by massive cheating if the ARMM elections push through.
"We should not repeat the last presidential election. While investigations are underway, public opinion on the perceived cheating is a very powerful enemy of this administration," Hataman said.
"The strong clamor for the resignation of some COMELEC officials is very well founded," he added.
"The ARMM elections should not push through unless a top-to-bottom revamp of the COMELEC, including the resignation of some officials headed by Chairman Benjamin Abalos, is implemented," Hataman said.
The poll body is under fire following widespread suspicion that last year's elections were marred by fraud.
The COMELEC reportedly gave President Arroyo unfair advantage over her opponents, particularly the late Fernando Poe Jr.
Hataman expressed strong concern over the recent developments in the political arena, especially the reported wiretapping of President Arroyo's conversation with COMELEC Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano.
"COMELEC officials have totally lost their credibility and the public trust because of their failure to prevent massive fraud during the 2004 elections," Hataman said.
"There can only be genuine reforms if an honest-to-goodness cleansing and removal of COMELEC officials involved in alleged electoral frauds will be implemented," he said.
Aside from lack of funding, Hataman said electoral reforms must be instituted before the holding of the ARMM elections.
He said President Arroyo can ask her allies in Congress to pass a measure calling for another postponement of the political exercise as an initial step toward her well-publicized reforms and appease public outrage against her administration and her immediate family members who were accused of accepting "jueteng" money.
Hataman also said the presence of American and other international observers during the ARMM elections will not guarantee an impartial, honest and peaceful election. Such may even add injury to the republic’s reputation before the international community.
"Even during the 2004 elections, respected international observers swamped the country but the systematic and massive cheating did not spare the sanctity of the electoral process," Hataman said.
The lawmaker said President Arroyo should dismantle private armies that can used by politicians in ARMM to influence the result of the election.
"Private armies have been a long time problem. We need to arrest the terror and violence brought about by the proliferation of firearms and the unabated practice of keeping private armies, assassination squads, unauthorized bodyguards and goons," Hataman said. "These could aggravate the questions of the credibility of the election," he added.
Hataman branded as absurd the coming ARMM elections after the announcement that candidates of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) are not participating.
"It is tantamount to abandoning the very essence of the peace agreement," he said. "Is the government abandoning the peace process it forged with the MNLF?" Hataman asked.
He said what is going on in ARMM can also jeopardize the ongoing peace negotiations between the Government Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
There were already five postponements of the ARMM elections, the first was by virtue of Republic Act No. 8176 and then by the implementation of RAs 8753, 8953, 1902 and 9140.
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