I am in favor of HB 4146 (and its twin Senate Bill 2756). All elections, except for barangay election, are to be synchronized as mandated for by the 1987 Constitution. ARMM election, being a local election, is not an exception to this rule. The question to be asked to those who oppose is why until now this constitutional mandate has not been followed? If we don’t synchronize it in 2013, the next national and local election, when do we synchronize it?
With regards to the postponement, the August 2011 election need to be postponed because of the following reasons:
a. need to synchronize local and national elections as mandated in the 1987 Constitution. Having a separate ARMM elections will not only be inconsistent with such mandate but will entail additional cost to taxpayers;
[NOTE: if we synchronize ARMM election with the national and local election in 2013 without postponing the election, that is we push through with the August 2011 election, then the term of office of the elected officials will only be for 21 months, less than the three-year term mandate in the Organic Act. Cutting short the term of office is unconstitutional.]
b. need to institute electoral reforms in the ARMM that has been constantly plagued by electoral violence, massive fraud, vote-buying, kidnapping, etc. COMELEC needs time to cleanse the voters’ list and institute safeguards in the ballots and for the voters’ will to be protected;
[NOTE: COMELEC says that with their Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) they were able to remove 73,000 double registrants and 16,000 bogus identities. But biometrics doesn’t end at the registration of voters. We do not have a double biometrics system that checks/verifies/validates the fingerprint of the registered voter to the one who gets the ballot and submits the ballot. Anyone can just fill up the ballot. Also, as pointed out by a governor in Maguindanao (you may verify this in the Transcript of the Marawi Public Hearing done by Senate last May 19, 2010) a municipality with only 500 voters has 20,000 voters in the COMELEC list. Imagine the 19,500 ghost voters? This is definitely a slap to what they say as democratic process. How can there be democracy when more than half of the voters are ghost? We demand that there should be a general registration and a double biometrics system first before another sham election.]
c. must give way to the peace process that is ongoing between the government and the Moro rebel groups to provide focus and imperatives to achieving sustainable peace.
[NOTE: Both the MILF and MNLF gave support to the call for postponement of ARMM election.]
If elections are to push through in August 2011, we will see the same ‘warlords’ dominating the scene. If we recall, the November 2009 massacre in Ampatuan, Maguindanao was election-related violence as those murdered were supposed to file certificates of candidacies for the Mangudadatus against the Ampatuans. Already incidence of violent crimes possibly related to election ‘preparations’ like kidnapping, arms procurement, etc are on the rise.
The May 2010 elections and the October 2010 barangay elections in the ARMM saw heightened violence and fraud that COMELEC needs to address first before elections are held again in ARMM. Such argument for postponement was recommended by the Parish-Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) and the Citizens Coalition for ARMM Electoral Reforms or C-CARE, an electoral watchdog supported by the International Foundation for Electoral System (IFES). Yet COMELEC has failed to act on such recommendations and now the ARMM elections will officially start by May 9, 2011 upon the filing of candidacy by prospective officials. The short period of time and the proven track record of COMELEC of ineptitude in poll preparations compel the need for postponement.
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