Poll watchdogs oppose plan to postpone ARMM elections

Election watchdogs on Wednesday voiced their opposition to the proposed 15-month postponement of the elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), which was originally scheduled in August 2011. Eric Alvia, secretary-general of the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL), said they do not see "sufficient" reasons to synchronize the ARMM elections with the national mid-term polls in May 2013. "Postponing the elections will not guarantee free and fair elections... Real and inclusive consultations in the ARMM have also not been conducted yet," Alvia said during a hearing of the House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms. He said postponing the ARMM elections will disrupt the "regularity" of elections, and may even disenfranchise voters from the region. The congressional hearing stemmed from two proposals in the House of Representatives —House Bills 3542 and 4146 — seeking to reset the regular elections in the ARMM and hold it instead during the general elections in May 2013. Even President Benigno Aquino III is in favor of postponing the ARMM elections. Malacañang has also described ARMM as a “failed experiment." But Evita Jimenez of the Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG) said there is “no justifiable reason" for the government to delay this year’s ARMM elections. “We should comply with the laws and push through with the elections this year," she said at the hearing. The group likewise urged the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in a position paper not to use to supposedly “bug-ridden" automated election system used during the May 2010 national polls. “The glitches and snafus that attended the May 10, 2010 elections... proved that the system is ridden with so many bugs and is not suitable for national or local Philippine elections," the position paper read. Ramon Casiple of the Institute for Political and Electoral Reform (IPER), meanwhile, debunked in the same hearing the government’s claim that the postponement of the ARMM polls will help ensure the success of the ongoing talks between the government and Moro rebels. “We don’t believe that. We don’t even know what will happen in [the] peace process. At no point in our history did the elections affect the peace process," he said. Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga, chairman of the House panel on suffrage and electoral reforms, said the committee will likely vote whether or not to approve the bills next week. Comelec chairperson Sixto Brillantes earlier said that the poll body is prepared to hold the ARMM elections whether on its original schedule or at a later date. — KBK/RSJ, GMA News