Lanao polls: Looking thru the numbers

By Ryan Rosauro
Inquirer
Last updated 11:31pm (Mla time) 05/26/2007
MARAWI CITY, Philippines—Part from pointing to the usual hitches, anomalies and controversies surrounding elections in Lanao del Sur, including its component city of Marawi, poll monitors are worried about the meteoric rise in the number of registered voters between 2004 and 2007.

This is the principal reason they are saying the May 14 balloting is flawed from the very start. From only 275,572 voters in 2004, Lanao del Sur now has 396,722 voters, or an increase of 43.9 percent. This has dwarfed Northern Mindanao region’s mere four-percent hike in voting population between 2004 and 2007.

Was there a confluence of major demographic events—the coming into voting age of so many Maranao youngsters and the re-settlement in the province of already voting population—for the past three years, so that its voting population grew by 121,150?

A look at the basic numbers could give leads to this mystery.

Data from the National Statistics Office (NSO) shows a decrease in the population of Lanao del Sur between 1975 and 1980, as documented in the 1980 census.

An official explanation for the decrease is the mass evacuation of residents as a result of armed conflict.

Based on the figures, the province lost almost a fifth of its population in five years. Incidentally, these years also marked the expansion of Maranao migrant communities in the cities of Iligan, Ozamiz, Oroquieta and even Dipolog.

During the period of relative normalcy beginning in 1986, the post-Edsa 1 years, people began to return to their villages, which sparked a large increase in the population.

The Ramos’ appeasement years with Moro rebels brought some stability to the lives of Maranao people, and so with the province’s demography.

Growth years

It can be said then that the period between 1990 and 2000 are the “natural boom years” for its population, coming out of decades of a cycle of dislocation and relocation because of the secessionist war.

The period between 1980 and 1990 showed the highest rate of population increase for both Lanao del Sur and Marawi City. The “re-settlement” of communities as former evacuees return to their old villages could have a large influence on this trend.

And this can have implications on the number of registered voters in the years that followed.

A look into the statistics of registered voters for both Lanao del Sur and Marawi City for the periods 2004 and 2007 showed staggering increases: 43.9 percent and 51.7 percent, respectively.

Under the present election laws, a Filipino citizen who is at least 18 years old on an election date can vote. Those turning 18 years old on May 14 and duly registered as voter can cast a ballot.

Therefore, a child born today can become an eligible voter 18 years from now.

As such, the increase in Lanao del Sur and Marawi’s number of registered voters between 2004 and 2007 can be traced 18 years back, or 1987 for 2005, 1988 for 2006, and 1989 for 2007.

But in 1989, those born only from Jan. 1 to May 14, or the first four and a half months of the year are eligible. Add those who were born May 11, 1986, to Dec. 31, 1986, some seven and a half months period, who were not yet eligible to vote on May 10, 2004, but subsequently qualified in the next election. In all, that is 36 months from May 11, 1986, to May 14, 1989.

Based on the computed population growth rate of the province, 15,802 individuals were added to Lanao del Sur’s population every year between 1980 and 1990. That is an average of 1,317 per month. Within the same period, 3,729 individuals are added to Marawi City’s population annually, or an average of 311 per month.

Assuming such hike in the people count is wholly from net birth count, new voters for the May 14 midterm polls born between May 11, 1986, to May 14, 1989, are as follows: Lanao del Sur, 47,412; and Marawi City, 11,196. This is arrived at by multiplying 36 months with the average monthly growth in population count.

This is only theoretical as the actual voter registrants from among the new eligible voters can be lower as a result of disinterest or simply a failure to register.

Where are the others?

The difference between the actual voters increase and the projected growth based on population figures is 73,738 for Lanao del Sur, and 8,049 for Marawi city.

Where are they? Where have they come from?

A possibility could be that among the new voters are adult migrants who are eligible to vote as they settled in Lanao del Sur and Marawi.

Another possibility is that among the new voters are individuals who became eligible to vote even prior to the 2004 or 2007 elections, but have only decided to register now.

Probing the viability of these possible explanations and identifying more is best left to experts in sociology, demography, statistics, and related fields.

In tinkering with the matter, it would help to consider added factors. One is that despite the increase by tens of thousands in the number of voters, thousands of others have been delisted from the voter’s roll in their usual precincts.

Have their names been deleted, and if so, was there a corresponding deduction made in the number of registered voters? Or could it be that their names were just transferred to a precinct unknown to them, which they cannot locate, and so making it possible for somebody else to vote for them?

It is worth noting the truckloads of non-Maranao people coming from Iligan city and neighboring areas brought to Marawi and Lanao del Sur towns on May 14.

Is Comelec now allowing nonresident voters in Lanao del Sur? Because they claimed their ballots without so many hitches, their names are surely in the voter’s roll.

Finally, it could be that the basic thesis put forward by election monitors, the “meteoric rise” in the number of registered voters between 2004 and 2007, is not mysterious after all, and therefore not the real question.

The voter increase could be justified: That the Maranao people were not as much interested in exercising their right of suffrage then as now. But are they letting other warm bodies do the voting for them?

PPCRV exec disgusted over Isabela polls

Inquirer
Last updated 11:29pm (Mla time) 05/26/2007
ILAGAN, Isabela, Philippines—The chair of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting in Isabela said the conduct of the elections in the province was far from the standards set by the group, citing election-related irregularities and incidents of alleged fraud.

“It is disgusting to note that aside from the suspended proclamation of the winner for governor, the campaign period was marked by blatant vote-buying,” said Fr. Antonio Ancheta, PPCRV Isabela chair.

The proclamation of reelectionist Gov. Maria Gracia Cielo Padaca has been stalled after the camp of her rival, former Gov. Benjamin Dy, asked for the exclusion of allegedly questionable election returns from Ilagan and Tumauini towns in the official canvass.

The questioned returns were taken to the Commission on Elections in Manila.

Ancheta said the 2007 elections in the province, like previous elections, had failed to satisfy the requirements of being clean, honest, accurate, meaningful and peaceful.

He said the PPCRV received reports that even some village chiefs, who were supposed to be nonpartisan, had threatened villagers and forced them to vote for candidates they were supporting.

He said the placement of the province under Comelec control during this year’s election period resulted in the massive deployment of Army soldiers, even in urban areas where violence was “unlikely to occur.”

Ancheta, however, said there were some “bright spots” in the May 14 elections.

He said this year’s polls were relatively peaceful, unlike the 2004 elections where the town halls of Jones and San Mariano were burned and incidents of ballot box snatching were reported.

In a statement, Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo said the delay in the proclamation of Padaca was a “deliberate scheme” of Malacañang and Dy “to buy ample time to rig the election results to favor Dy.”

“Governor Padaca enjoys a clear lead over her rival despite the nine [towns] being purported by the Dy camp as fraught with irregularities, to justify the petition for a declaration of failure of elections,” said Ocampo.

“Padaca’s resounding victory in 2004 was a bitter pill which the Arroyo government had to swallow and the Dys could not accept to swallow again,” he added.

Ocampo said Bayan Muna has supported Padaca in the 2004 and 2007 elections “on the ground that she shares the politics of change being advocated by our party.”

“We have closely worked with her in pushing for lasting reforms to uplift the lives of the poor and marginalized,” he said.

In the province’s fourth district, incumbent Rep. Anthony Miranda has protested the proclamation of former Rep. Giorgidi Aggabao as the winner in the congressional race.

Miranda asked the Comelec to declare a failure of elections in the towns of Echague, Jones and San Agustin, saying he was a victim of a “grand conspiracy” of communist rebels and his rival to unseat him.

Citing affidavits of his witnesses, Miranda said New People’s Army rebels wrote village chiefs in the towns and threatened them that they would be harmed if they would campaign for him.

Aggabao, however, dismissed Miranda’s statements and said he would not seek support from communist rebels.

In Baguio City, media people who established the “Media Watch,” a desk that monitored election-related irregularities, said indirect vote buying was used in courting votes in the city.

Arthur Allad-iw, convenor of Media Watch, said politicians did not buy votes using money but through the distribution of insurance cards and the holding of medical and dental missions.

“If we want to ensure clean and honest elections in the future, there should be an intensive monitoring to catch candidates who buy votes and file cases against them,” he said.

Abalos won’t say when Senate winners will be proclaimed

By Tarra Quismundo
Inquirer
Last updated 00:09am (Mla time) 05/27/2007
MANILA, Philippines — As the official tally has yet has yet to include
vote-rich cities and provinces, the Commission on Elections (Comelec)
is leaving it up to the pace of the canvass to determine when winning
senators and party-list representatives will be proclaimed.

Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos declined to set any target date for
the proclamation of winning candidates anew as he estimated that millions
of votes have yet to be factored into the national canvass, currently
dominated by candidates of the Genuine Oppositiion.

He further clarified that he “never backtracked” from an earlier
estimate that a partial proclamation could already be held this weekend.

“We were only trying to guess because of the speed of the canvass we
were making here. Unfortunately, there are many (certificates of
canvass) that have yet to arrive, so how can you proclaim?,” Abalos told
reporters on the 10th day of national canvassing for senatorial and
party-list candidates.

Abalos estimated that some seven million votes, including those from
the cities of Quezon City and Caloocan and several other big provinces,
have yet to be canvassed.

He said, however, that a partial proclamation of winning senatorial
candidates may still happen should the total uncounted votes reach a
number that would no longer affect the ranking of leading candidates.

“When we reach a figure that would no longer affect [results for
leading candidates], we can have a partial proclamation. But we can’t when
there is still a big difference because you would practically
disenfranchise voters,” Abalos said.

COMMENTARY

A nation fights back
By Dr. Minguita Padilla
Inquirer
Last updated 07:05am (Mla time) 05/27/2007
MANILA, Philippines—The stage was set, the agents of darkness with their vote-shavers had been strategically deployed, the grotesque machine that worked so well in the past to thwart the people’s will was again brought out and oiled; and even before the voting began, it was all over save for the tainted canvassing.

A gross miscalculation, one brought about by blind arrogance. This is what the Arroyo administration, Benjamin Abalos and the seasoned Comelec “operators” trained in the dark art and science of election fraud in the “School of Garci” committed. Even months before the midterm elections, all the signs of the planned cheating were there for all to see. Many writers have documented these in the weeks past, but some are still worth mentioning. From reports of stolen election returns which were nonchalantly dismissed by the Comelec chair as “nothing to worry about,” to the blatant attempts on the part of Abalos to hide the nominees of the party lists, to the brazen sabotage of Alan Cayetano’s candidacy and the insane pronouncements of “Justice” Secretary Raul Gonzalez that he was giving away money as “incentive” to village chiefs whose barangays could give the Team Unity slate a 12-0 victory—the list was enough to make one physically sick with disgust.

While we had hoped our fears would be proven wrong, the entire country, and much of the world, now know that the wholesale cheating that went on—and is still going on—during this last election, is the worst, most brazen, that we have ever seen. And our people’s will would again have been tossed aside and trampled were it not for the fact that we decided to fight back. And because of this, we have turned a potential nightmare into a strong and formidable battle cry. We have had enough of rotten elections, of being insulted again and again, of being taken for fools and idiots! Abalos and company had better take heed. But so should the politicians who cannot see the writing on the wall. The political winds are changing, and those politicians who remain oblivious to this are already dinosaurs in our midst.

More than 10 days have passed since election day, and the winning senatorial slate is proving to be an accurate reflection of our people’s will. The 8-2-2 turnout is a clear protest against an administration that is viewed as corrupt to the bone and abusive—this despite its well-touted “economic gains.” Our people’s voice has been expressed—no help though from our Comelec that shamelessly indulged in public back-patting as early as Day One, when all around was disenfranchisement and literally murder and mayhem. Our people’s will is being heard in spite of the Comelec and the agents of darkness. Credit must go to all the people’s groups, the watchdogs, the media, the candidates who brought morality back to politics, regardless of whether they won or lost, and even to those who simply stayed home and prayed that light might prevail over darkness.

We are fighting back, and the fight will not end when the winners of this present election shall have been all proclaimed. We must see to it that such an immoral election process does not happen again, and the only way this can happen is if those responsible for the fiasco, which we had to guard against, will be held accountable. Again it all boils down to accountability.

We cannot expect our jaded politicians to demand this. Many of them, if not most of them, while cursing the system, are so entrenched in the murky waters of dirty politics that they cannot see beyond the next election. In fairness to many, they wish things could be different, but they are too tired to even try. Therefore, while we will rally behind those political leaders who will seriously demand accountability, it is we, the people, who must really make sure it is achieved; not just from election officials, but from those who ordered the tampering of election returns. It is a tiring process no doubt, but our country is in a very important transition. We must also demand computerized elections under a Comelec composed of men and women of unquestionable integrity. Our people are climbing to a level of political maturity never yet seen before, and so we must persevere in this effort. It is the only way we can hope to finally have an electoral system where the Comelec is viewed as an ally and not as the enemy of our will.

The race for 2010 has already begun. The jockeying for positions, the horse-trading, all the internal maneuverings of realpolitik have been set in motion. Our leaders, both in and outside government, must not forget that even more important than protecting interests for the next election, we must consider upholding the welfare of the next generation. We must lay the foundation for building a country where true peace and progress can have a chance, the kind of progress that seeps down to the lowest level of our social structure. All this must start with credible and honest elections we can be proud of as a people. The perpetrators of this wholesale election fraud must therefore be held accountable, never mind that they were found out and stopped in their tracks.

The results of the last elections have shown that our people are now looking for leaders with credentials, with education and with principles. The politics of celebrity is fading. Come 2010, the politics of vision and conviction will play a much bigger role for a citizenry already fed up with empty rhetoric, a people tired of having to look toward other countries for a chance at a future for themselves and their families. We must make sure that such an enlightened citizenry will have their voices heard.

Dr. Minguita Padilla, MD, is the president of the Eye Bank Foundation of the Philippines and the Drug Abuse Research Foundation.

What Among Ed’s victory means

What Among Ed’s victory means
By Randy David
Inquirer
Last updated 07:03am (Mla time) 05/27/2007
MANILA, Philippines—Pampanga’s pride today is no longer Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who, for a growing number of Filipinos, represents everything that is decadent in Philippine politics.

Ms Arroyo has been ominously quiet about the defeat of her gubernatorial bets in her own province. It is possible she doesn’t quite know yet when and how to reach out to this quiet priest who had crushed two of her most loyal political allies. Or maybe she doesn’t wish to hurt her friends, Baby and Bong Pineda, who must still be smarting from their stunning defeat.

But being the clever politician that she is, Ms Arroyo will surely find a way to minimize the fallout from the rejection of her candidates in Pampanga. She will not allow Among Ed’s triumph to be represented as a rejection of her own leadership. For indeed, she can always point to the successful bid of her eldest son, re-elected Rep. Mikey Arroyo of the second district, as an affirmation of her continuing influence on the politics of the province. Mikey was virtually unopposed in his bid. Moreover, Among Ed’s campaign stayed away from the national issues that have been raised against Ms Arroyo’s administration.

The gubernatorial outcome in Pampanga is certainly a bright ray of hope in an otherwise relentlessly gloomy political sky. But we cannot exaggerate its importance to national politics. It can lead to something new, or it can remain just another flash in the pan; a proof of what middle-class militancy can do, but also a reminder that the politics of reform does not end with the installation of a new leader. Baby Pineda, Mark Lapid and Mikey Arroyo—like Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo herself—are not themselves the enemy. The enemy is the entrenched political system that allows money to purchase public office and to corrupt every institution of governance. It is this that needs to be brought down.

We can rail against the immorality of this system and demonize the people who run it, but there is no way to overthrow it other than from within politics itself—by the painstaking process of organizing citizens for long-term political engagement and governance. This means harnessing, and going beyond, the energy of people power movements. It means building an informed and self-reliant public, recruiting a new breed of political leaders and professional administrators into government service, and forming new stable political vehicles as alternatives to the obsolete patronage networks that have long dominated the nation’s political life.

There is every reason to hope that the new governor, with the help of advisers on local governance, can succeed in setting up a modern administrative system that is adequately insulated from short-term political interests. Demonstrating the power of exemplary behavior, he may even be able to tame the rapacious inclinations of local politicians who invested a lot of money to win public office. The impact of all this on revenue generation and delivery of basic services is immediately felt.

But can these reforms survive beyond the term of a solitary party-less governor? Yes—but only if the reform impulse that thrust Among Ed into this unlikely role is stabilized and organized. If this happens, the amorphous movement of volunteers that made the breakthrough possible may evolve into a broad-based reform constituency from which future leaders can be recruited. That is how a new political party takes shape. This political task, beyond governance itself, is not as easy as it may seem. It is cumulative, unceasing, latent and often shadowy—in contrast to the dramatic and heroic moments that mark actual campaigns. The skills it requires are of a different sort.

Reluctant individuals, drawn into politics by extraordinary circumstances, may often choose to stand above the cesspool of politics, hoping to preserve their purity. They usually end up being overwhelmed by politics, unable to grasp its imperatives or to live with the imperfect choices it presents. Potent and inspiring as political symbols, they however fail to establish enduring legacies. In Max Weber’s sense, they are too good for politics. In a famous essay, Weber wrote: “Only he has a calling for politics who is sure that he shall not crumble when the world from his point of view is too stupid or too base for what he wants to offer.”

There is a strong undercurrent in our political life that is pushing the rest of our society toward modernity. But it has been unable to gather enough force to produce a wave of such intensity as to sweep the dysfunctional structures that have hobbled us. Among Ed’s triumph is a small version of the same phenomenon that brought the Marcos regime to its dramatic end in 1986. Like Cory Aquino in Edsa I, this soft-spoken priest was the only one who could have tapped that current in Pampanga in 2007. Every thoughtful Filipino knows this is not where it should end. For this reform current to grow into a swell, it must be tracked down and activated at its deepest level—among the poor, who have been the most vulnerable victims of money politics.

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Special action officers minimize Lanao Sur problems–Namfrel

By Ryan Rosauro
Mindanao Bureau
Last updated 05:39pm (Mla time) 05/27/2007
MARAWI CITY — During the regional elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in 2005, a local official instigated a declaration of a failure of election in Lumbatan town.

Along with this was a bribe offer which the municipal election officer allegedly took.

But because there was a special action officer (SAO) detailed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in the town who had co-equal status with the local poll official, the matter immediately reached the attention of higher-level poll officials and was resolved accordingly.

On Saturday, the Comelec adopted the same arrangement in administering the special polls in 13 Lanao del Sur towns.

According to Hadj Abdullah Dalidig, chair of the National Citizen’s Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel), the SAO arrangement proved effective in constantly checking how election officers discharged their poll administration duties.

Apart from installing a SAO per town, the Comelec also planned to install new sets of boards of canvassers (BOCs) and tabulators for the municipal and provincial counts.

These are all Comelec personnel pulled out from other stations in the country.

For Saturday’s political exercise, Comelec deputized thousands of police and Army troops to secure the whole proceedings.

“That is what we need to ensure credibility in the electoral process,” said Dalidig as he lauded how the polls went through last Saturday.

If the measures adopted last Saturday were carried out last May 14, there would have been no need for special elections, he added.

Dalidig said it would be better to have a “special schedule” for balloting in the entire ARMM where the conduct polls was prone to fraud and violence.

By holding the balloting in the ARMM separately from the rest of the country, he said the Comelec can “focus on the region.”

But Dalidig warned against complacency, saying political operators were still out to “manipulate the vote counts.”

He earlier warned that the operation to rig the May 14 balloting turnout was underway with local Comelec officials in cahoots.

Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, who is in Marawi to observe Saturday’s exercise, reminded that “the same cheating methods are now beginning to be observed.”

Biazon noted that these were happening “in the same places” as in 2004 and involved “the same people.”

Former PNP chief Arturo Lomibao was in Marawi beginning middle of the week but Biazon said the former police official left as soon as he arrived. Lomibao figured in the infamous “Hello, Garci” tapes. The tapes, which surfaced in 2005, contained alleged phone conversations in 2004 between President Macapagal-Arroyo and then Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano about maintaining the President’s one-million-vote lead in the counting. Ms Arroyo apologized for her lapse of judgment but insisted her talk with Garcillano was not about rigging the 2004 presidential elections.

Biazon noted that lawyer Ray Sumalipao even got a promotion as regional director of Comelec in ARMM.

A Garcillano protégé, Sumalipao was accused of masterminding current rigging operations in the province to favor Team Unity bets.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer spotted in Iligan city a Mindanao operator identified with former Elections Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano.

As the canvassing of votes ensued, the Citizens Coalition for ARMM Electoral Reforms (Citizens CARE) complained that many of their poll watchers were not allowed to enter the vote-counting stations in the towns of Kapai, Bayang, Binidayan and Sultan Dumalondong.

Biazon earlier said these acts were “…indicators of irregularity.”

On Sunday morning, Biazon sought cover along with hundreds of poll watchers at the Marawi People’s Park as gunshots were fired lasting about a minute in nearby Marawi City National High School.

Biazon was talking with reporters and LENTE lawyers, who volunteered to provide legal assistance in efforts to guard the results of the polls, beside the Marawi Public Library during his observation tour on the conduct of special elections on behalf of the Liberal Party (LP).

He told reporters that he noticed poll watchers with IDs identifying themselves as the “LP-Atienza wing.”

“There is no such thing. And these people should not be given the (LP) copies of the ERs and COCs,” he said.

Biazon added that in case no LP poll watcher was at the precinct, the authorized recipient of the ERs and COCs should be the party-list group Suara Bangsamoro.

“These are indicators of irregularities,” Biazon said of the refusal to give the ERs and COCs “to the authorized parties.”

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Kiram no.2 in Marawi City

By Fe Zamora
Inquirer
Last updated 05:57pm (Mla time) 05/27/2007
MARAWI CITY – The Islamic City of the South gave Sultan Jamalul Kiram the greatest gift Muslim voters could give these days: they voted him number 2 among 12 senatorial aspirants in the May 14 elections.

Official results from the city’s counting showed administration candidate Kiram with 22,740 votes. He was ranked second to topnotcher Loren Legarda, who garnered 26,633 votes.

Legarda, from the Genuine Opposition (GO), is also an adopted Maranao princess.

The other winners included Edgardo Angara (TU), Francis “Chiz” Escudero (GO), Aquilino “Koko” Pimental (GO), Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan (Ind), Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III (GO), Alan Cayetano (GO), Antonio Trillanes IV (GO), Manuel Villar (GO), Miguel Zubiri (TU) and Joker Arroyo (TU).

Kiram, who belonged to the royal Muslim family in Sulu, earlier wondered how the Ilocano candidate Luis “Chavit” Singson, could have topped the senatorial race in Maguindanao.

Kiram was ranked only 12 in Maguindanao, a Muslim region.

Meanwhile, special elections were held Saturday in 13 towns in Lanao del Sur, but the counting had yet to begin as of Sunday morning.

Cops serve as BEIs in Lanao Sur as scared teachers bail out

Armed soldiers guard balloting, canvassing By Edson C. Tandoc Jr.
Inquirer
Last updated 06:43pm (Mla time) 05/27/2007
BUTIG, Lanao Del Sur — It did not matter if it was held in an old and open public market. Streams of voters still came as the third attempt to hold elections in this remote town finally pushed through on Sunday.

Polls also pushed through in the five barangay (villages) in Pualas and in one village in Lumba Bayabao where special elections failed on Saturday.

The situation in the province was generally peaceful on Sunday, with only two reported cases of gunfire. In both instances the shots came from soldiers who fired warning shots to pacify unruly crowds.

The 42 precincts in this town, two hours away from Marawi City, were clustered in three areas: In an elementary school, in the Butig National High School and the bulk at the Butig Public Market, right across the town hall grounds, where military trucks and two armored vehicles were parked.

The number of soldiers sent to the small town of over 8,000 voters was doubled: 200 army soldiers on board 15 military trucks arrived early Sunday morning.

Three military helicopters were flying over the area.

Polls here did not push through twice, on May 14 and on Saturday, after teachers assigned to work as Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs) did not show up. They were afraid they might get caught in the intense family feud between political rivals.

Of the 126 teachers assigned to serve as BEIs, only six showed up on Saturday, according to Commission on Elections special action officer Roy Prule Ediza.

“They said their fellow teachers got sick, or went somewhere. We were not able to complete teams of BEIs,” Ediza told the INQUIRER. He tried forming new teams of BEIs, but time on Saturday was not on his side: It was getting late and there had been no power supply into the town in the last few days.

The clashing parties eventually proposed to have policemen serve as BEIs instead, Ediza said, showing text messages from representatives.

So on Sunday, as balloting finally began after lunch, policemen could be seen carrying ballot boxes filled with election paraphernalia. The special elections began late because Ediza had to wait for a copy of the written resolution authorizing the rescheduled polls from the Comelec en banc in Manila.

The 126 policemen came from the Lanao Del Sur Provincial Police and from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Regional Mobile Group. Only a handful of them were women and had experience working as BEIs, Chief Insp. Richmond Tadina, the provincial police operations officer, told the INQUIRER.

Most of the policemen were carrying rifles and wearing combat uniforms when they reported to their respective precincts at 1:15 p.m. Voters had been waiting as early as seven hours before, said 31-year-old voter Alex.

“It is okay to have policemen as BEIs. We are not afraid. We don’t see any problem,” 20-year-old voter Omair also said. It was his first time to vote.

The watchers from rival parties were difficult to deal with. They insisted on accompanying the policemen transporting the ballot boxes, and wanted to get into the rooms, and, in the public market, into the narrow stalls barricaded only by straw ropes and weak wooden posts.

In the public market, a policeman lost his temper when two watchers from just one party wanted to stay in the stall where he was.

“Back off! We are here so the elections could continue!” he shouted.

In Lumba Bayabao, polls also pushed through at the Maribo Elementary Schools, where 1,855 voters were registered, special action officer Fernando Cotom also told the INQUIRER.

Tension was rife for a few minutes when soldiers spotted a man carrying a gun about 2 p.m. The man resisted when he was asked to leave and some people were starting to get unruly so the soldiers fired warning shots.

Polls in Barangay Yaran, Dapao, Notong, Bualan and Bantayan in Pualas also pushed through on Sunday after the Comelec resolved problems in the clustering of precincts. Election materials did not reach these areas on Saturday after gunmen opened fire at the convoy carrying the ballot boxes.

The canvassing of votes for the 10 towns where the Saturday special elections pushed through started late Sunday as thousands of watchers trooped to the canvassing areas in Marawi City at the provincial capitol, the Amai Pak Pak Elementary School, the Marawi National High School and at the People’s Freedom Park.

Traffic on streets leading to these areas was jammed Sunday as cars parked on the narrow roads and watchers gathered in front of the gates, preventing the BEIs from getting in.

The mayhem was enough to delay the verification of the BEIs.

Soldiers were all over key streets, holding check points, stopping cars and verifying documents of motorcycles.

At the Marawi National High School, soldiers had to fire warning shots Sunday morning when tension between watchers of rival political parties in Kapai town turned into a brawl.

It was in Kapai where gunmen opened fire at the town hall on Saturday afternoon, just as the voting was about to end.