Massive cheating, fraud, intimidation cap elections in Sulu

SULU, Philippines – Accusations of massive cheating, fraud and vote-buying capped Monday’s general elections in the southern Philippine province of Sulu. Journalists covering the country’s first nationwide automated polls were reportedly harassed in the village of Kulasi in Maimbung town where thousands of Badjao tribesmen who cannot read nor write cast their votes. Supporters of a local candidate who was seeking re-election prevented (for still unknown reason) one television reporter from taking video and photos inside polling precincts during Monday’s voting. Several indigenous people said they were paid up to P1,000 in exchange for their votes. And a huge number of those who cast their votes were minors and without election papers. Elections in the town were marred by massive cheating, fraud and vote-buying. Also, last-hour voting were disrupted by clashes between poll watchers of opposing candidates after poll inspectors allowed minors to vote. Police fired warning shots to prevent the escalation of violence. Many voters in the village just washed off their ink markings on their fingers and voted several times in different polling precincts. Two teenagers – both 16 years old - told a police officer outside the polling place at Lidung Elementary School that they were paid P500 each to vote for candidates whose names were written on a piece of paper. They said the ink markings put by poll inspectors on their fingers were easily washed off with water. “We just scrubbed our finger and the ink washed away and we were able to vote twice in separate polling precincts. We were paid P500 each," one teenager told the police officer. Policemen and soldiers cannot do anything because they were not allowed near the polling places. All they did was to monitor the elections and keep the people safe from possible attacks of Abu Sayyaf militants whose group is tied to al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya. “This is terrible. This election exercise is comparable to none. There is massive cheating, fraud and intimidation," one watcher of the government’s Lakas-Kampi-CMD coalition said. One elderly Badjao tribesman, who cannot read or write, also showed a piece of paper where the names of local candidates – from congressman to council members – were written on a white piece of paper. Speaking through an interpreter, he said he was given money in exchange for his votes. It was unknown how illegal voters, many of them unregistered with the Commission on Elections, were able to cast their votes, but suspicion fell heavily on poll inspectors who were composed mostly of state teachers in cahoots with local politicians. There were also several reports of fist fights among poll watchers of opposing politicians in some polling areas. In Sulu’s Tongkil town, one supporter of Lakas-Kampi-CMD was mauled by policemen who were acting as bodyguards of a local politician. The victim, who suffered huge cuts on the face and head, was rushed to hospital in the capital town of Jolo. In nearby Tawi-Tawi province, journalists covering the elections in Panglima Sugala town were also harassed by bodyguards of a local politician. They were not allowed to take videos and photos of the elections. Poll fraud and cheating were also reported in the town, said one female journalist. “We were harassed. They have not respected the non-partisan role of the media in this electoral exercise," she said. The media watchdog, National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, said it is documenting all reports of harassment against journalists. — Al Jacinto/LBG/RSJ, GMANews.TV