Lawyers to observe polls in Lanao del Sur, Basilan

MARAWI CITY - On the eve of special elections to be held on Thursday in various areas of Lanao del Sur, Sarangani, and Basilan provinces, a group of lawyers advocating honest elections is going to attempt the heroic: to observe the conduct of the polls, and try to deter cheating and violence by sheer moral force. The Legal Network for Truthful Elections (LENTE), a nationwide alliance of various lawyers' groups, gathered 67 volunteers mostly from Mindanao and some from Metro Manila at the Mindanao State University (MSU) in Marawi City on Wednesday for final preparations before they fan out to the various municipalities of Lanao del Sur, where the biggest bulk of the voters are expected to come for the special elections. Carlos Medina, co-convenor of LENTE, said the volunteer mobilization, composed of lawyers, law students and paralegal workers, was the largest ever mobilized by the network at any given place and time. There were contingents from Cagayan de Oro, Iligan City, Davao City and Davao del Sur. Medina said LENTE aimed at pursuing voters' education and legal assistance to other monitoring groups, in addition to the actual monitoring of the special elections and guarding against a repeat of the May 10 debacle, when widespread incidents of voter disenfranchisement led the Commission on Elections to declare a failure of elections. Earlier in the day, LENTE representatives paid courtesy visits and held coordinating meetings with provincial officials of Lanao del Sur, local officials of the Philippine National Police and Comelec, and General Rey Ardo, commanding officer of the Army's 103rd Brigade stationed in the province. Medina said the military, police and civilian officials assured the LENTE mission that its teams will be provided security and other forms of assistance. As this developed, local teachers expressed surprise at the Comelec decision to replace the teachers' role as precinct-level Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) with police trainees from Region 10, 11 and 12, for purposes of the June 3 special election. The Comelec presumably based its decision on widespread reports that the failure of elections in the various areas of Lanao del Sur last May 10 was partly caused by the teachers being unable to function properly as BEIs due to fear of violence, harassment, and partisan loyalties. But sources who declined to be named complained that their dilemma last May 10 should have resulted, not in their replacement by police trainees, but by beefing up government security of voting centers so that the teachers could perform their defined election role more safely. A LENTE lawyer, who declined to be named, said that replacing teachers with police trainees for BEI duty is "not allowed by election law" and could be invoked as grounds for questioning the validity of the elections. - RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV