Police Arrest Controversial Poll Official In Mindanao

MAGUINDANAO (Mindanao Examiner / 02 Jul) – Philippine police arrested a controversial election official after he was tracked down at a clinic in the southern port city of Davao.

Police said Lintang Bedol, the provincial elections supervisor in Maguindanao province, did not resist arrest when nabbed late Sunday.

Maguindanao is one of several provinces in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), where cheating and fraud were reported during the May 14 national and local polls.

“He was arrested at a clinic in Davao City,” said Superintendent Joel Goltiao, chief of the regional police force.

The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) ordered Bedol’s arrest after he failed to show up last month at a hearing in Manila to answer investigations on the disappearance of poll documents under his custody.

Bedol said the documents were taken by somebody from his office in Shariff Aguak town. The COMELEC said Bedol repeatedly ignored summons to appear before the hearing and since then had not reported for work.

Goltiao earlier told reporters that Bedol was tracked down by policemen to his hideout, but admitted later in the day that the controversial poll official has been arrested in Davao City.

“He was arrested because we went to his hideout and served him the arrest warrant,” he said Monday morning.

Goltiao said no weapons were found from Bedol, who bragged in a clandestine television interview last week that he has twenty M16 rifles, aside from his .45-caliber and 9mm automatic pistols.

Goltiao said the poll official would be brought to Manila at anytime, but his doctor claimed that Bedol was suffering from hypertension.

Opposition politicians have accused the government of cheating and fraud to ensure victory of its 12 senatorial candidates, especially in the ARMM, which comprises Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur provinces.

Bedol has denied all charges of poll fraud in Maguindanao, where all the government senatorial candidates won by a landslide.

The governor of Maguindanao, Andal Ampatuan and his son, Zaldy Ampatuan, the governor of the ARMM, denied accusations of cheating and election fraud and said the Muslims voted straight for the government candidates.

The Ampatuan clan, one of the most influential in Mindanao, is a staunch ally of President Gloria Arroyo. (With reports from Mark Navales and Juan Magtanggol)

Maguindanao Folks Denounce Opposition, Threaten To Stage More Rallies!

Some of the protesters in Maguindanao province in southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner Photo/Fidayen Ramos)

MAGUINDANAO (Mindanao Examiner / 30 May) – Muslim villagers on Wednesday have threatened to stage more street rallies to protest what they say is “undue” allegations that there was massive cheating in the recently held national and local polls.

On Tuesday, more than 20,000 Muslims from across the province held an indignation rally and condemned the opposition for tagging Maguindanao as an area where fraud and cheating had catapulted President Gloria Arroyo’s 12 senatorial candidates in the polls.

Opposition bets have failed to gather enough votes in Maguindanao.

“We supported our leaders and the President and our supports spelled victory for all the TEAM Unity senatorial candidates,” Hakim Abubakar, a farmer, told the independent regional newspaper, the Mindanao Examiner.

Abubakar said his family voted straight for the TEAM Unity after the governor of the province, Andal Ampatuan, and his son, Zaldy, governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), appealed for their support.

“It was a vote of confidence to the datus, the “knights in shining armor” of the Lakas-Christian, Muslim Democrats,” said another party leader, Hashim Lisondra.

He said they would go to street again if the opposition continues to accuse the Muslims of cheating in the polls.

Ustadz Farid Solaiman, chief of the ARMM Madaris Education Bureau, said the gathering of voters at the provincial capitol was also a “tacit indication” of a strong belief by ethnic Maguindanaons to religious teachings espousing “obedience” to leaders.

Solaiman said it is the verse in the Koran, “atiy Allah, wah atiy or rasul wa umil amri ingkom’ (obey Allah, obey the Messenger (Prophet Mohammad) and obey those who lead over you) that catalyzes the political solidarity of the datus in Maguindanao, a known hotbed of Islamic militancy.

“Of course, this political solidarity comes through the concept of shura, or consultation among the people the datus lead,” Solaiman said in a separate interview.

Organizers of the rally, which lasted for five hours, denounced what they described as “classic stereotyping” of the Moro voters in Maguindanao with allegations there was cheating in the province in favor of the Team Unity senatorial ticket during the May 14 polls.

All of Maguindanao’s 22 mayors, almost all of them virtually unopposed during the elections, joined the rally together with thousands of supporters.

“So immense was the show of support to us that if we allow all of our followers to come along, shops will close in the town centers, flow of traffic in the province will stop for the whole duration of the rally,” said Mayor Shamer Uy of Datu Piang, Maguindanao’s oldest town.

The elder Ampatuan, who is also chairman of the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrat party in Maguindanao, said he cannot understand why the opposition simply cannot accept the reality that as early as 2004, all of his constituent-mayors already declared the province as “GMA (Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo) country” to project their patronage of Malacañang as a “center” of government power.

Ampatuan said that during the 2004 Presidential and national elections, mayors in the province gave some 200,000 votes for Arroyo, with her closest rival, movie actor Fernando Poe, Jr., trailing far behind with only more than 60,000 votes.

Ampatuan drew a long applause from the protesters when he said in jest that while he was an avid fan of Poe, he did not support his bid for the presidency for fear he could no longer appear in the movies once elected president.

“I want to see more of his action films. He was a good actor and was so loved by the Moros for his being an actor. Letting him sit in Malacañang as president would also mean an end to his acting career,” Ampatuan said.

Sulu’s newly-elected governor, Sakur Tan, said the opposition should learn to accept defeat in Moro communities, which are known for a strong “block” voting tradition.

Tan and Tawi-Tawi Gov. Sadikul Sahali, both political allies of the Ampatuans, agreed one reason for the overwhelming loss of the opposition senatorial candidates in many areas in the ARMM is the absence political leaders that openly campaigned for them.

“Campaigning for opposition senatorial candidates in the ARMM would be like selling costly water in sealed containers to the people dwelling in the surroundings of the vast Lake Lanao where water supply is free,” Tan said. (Fidayen Ramos)

All Set For Sulu Athletes

Abdusakur Tan

MAGUINDANAO – Sulu’s delegation to the 2007 Palaro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Athletic Association (ARMMAA) praised former governor Abdusakur Tan for his huge contribution to the promotion of sports development in the province.

Tan has donated P200,000 each for Sulu’s 1st and 2nd Districts’ delegations to the sports competition to be held in Maguindanao’s Shariff Aguak town from March 24-29.

Delfin Unga, Sulu’s Schools Division Superintendent, has sought Tan’s help last week to help augment expenses for 450 athletes that will join the 2007 Palaro ARMMAA. "Now comes another higher level of athletic competition...This time we come knocking at your door once again in the light of soliciting your good self for a financial assistance to augment our 450-man delegation to the 2007 ARMMAA."

“Indeed your assistance will be of great help not only to our school constituents, but to the general public that we serve. We count on you in alleviating our financial constraints as we prepare our athletes onward to 2007 ARMMAA Meet. Thank you for the past and present favors,” Unga said in his letter to the former governor.

This year’s Palaro ARMMAA is the 16th since it was introduced by the Department of Education to promote sports and camaraderie among students.

Tan could not be reached for an interview, but one of his aides said Tan has been very supportive of the development of sports in Sulu and was the architect in the construction of a multi-million sports complex in the province during his time.

“What I know is that (ex) Gov. Sakur Tan has been very supportive of sports development in Sulu and even in his private capacity; he continues to help promote athletics among our students and citizens. Gov. Tan is himself a sportsman,” said Engineer Abdurasad Baih.

Maguindanao province emerged as the overall champion in the 2006 Palaro ARMMAA and followed by Sulu. Basilan province ranked third in the sports competition held in Maguindanao’s Buluan town. More than 4,000 athletes joined the competition.

Among the sports events included in the ARMMAA are basketball, volleyball, baseball, athletics and Sepak takraw. (With a report from Mark Navales)