27 days after E-Day: Poll fraud whistleblower silenced

Terrorized Maguindanao teachers, stolen ballot boxes, missing certificate of canvass and a no-show provincial election officer. How do you solve a problem like Maguindanao? On Sunday, the problem even became terrifying. A public school official who exposed alleged electoral fraud in Pagalungan, Maguindanao, was gunned down Saturday night at an Islamic school in the municipality by unidentified men, police said Sunday. The fatality was identified as Musa Dimasidsing, Maguindanao Schools District Supervisor. Chief Supt. Felizardo Serapio Jr., Central Mindanao police director, said Dimasidsing died of gunshot wounds to the face and chest. Dimasidsing, the designated election supervisor in Maguindanao during the elections, reportedly witnessed the alleged rigging of the votes in the province. The district supervisor also filed a complaint against several members of the Board of Election Inspectors after accusing them of committing irregularities in the canvassing of results in Pagalungan. Dimasidsing was said to be the one who also confirmed the testimonies of Pagalungan Elementary School teachers that they were harassed and intimidated by political operators behind the town's election irregularities. The education supervisor also reported to authorities that four ballot boxes were snatched by armed men believed working for a politician in Pagalungan during the May 14 elections. Dimasidsing death came as Comelec commissioners in Manila are starting to get a clearer picture of the wholesale cheating in Maguindanao. The Comelec has formed Task Force Maguindanao to dig deeper into the electoral fraud allegation in the province. Identifying the people responsible for the missing certificates of canvass and statement of votes would be the main job of Task Force Maguindanao. Comelec Commissioner and task force chief Nicodemo Ferrer said, however, that the task force has not yet make any movements in the investigation since it is still waiting for the formal report coming from the provincial board of canvassers (PBOC) that handled the canvassing of the Maguindanao votes at the provincial level. “I don’t think they have completed their report. From there, we start analyzing the persons in the Comelec who may be liable. So we will start our investigation there," Ferrer said. Aside from unmasking Comelec personnel involved in the cheating in the province, Ferrer said they would also arrest even those who are not poll employees but “[who] are responsible also for corrupting our people." Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos formed the Task Force Maguindanao after the election documents from the province have not been delivered to the Comelec 26 days after the May 14 polls. Maguindanao PBOC chairman Lintang Bedol was able to attend a canvassing procedure of the Comelec, during which he admitted that poll watchers of the political parties and volunteers of poll watchdogs were not present during the canvassing. Bedol brought with him the provincial Certificate of Canvass but he failed to bring the municipal COC and the statement of votes per precincts. The commission then summoned Bedol after snubbing the succeeding proceedings despite notices sent to him by the Comelec. Abalos ordered the placing of Bedol’s name in the Bureau of Immigration’s watch list and he was given until Tuesday to appear to Comelec or he will be arrested. Meantime, Comelec is trying to determine if there was a failure of elections in Maguindanao and if there is a need to hold special elections there. The poll body had summoned the local officials in the 22 municipalities in Maguindanao in order to get their reactions and also show proof why the Comelec should not conduct the special elections in the province after the PBOC failed to conduct the recanvassing of the COCs from the area last Wednesday. “They must present evidence.. that elections were indeed held in Maguindanao and that they were duly elected and proclaimed," Abalos added. Koko wants Maguindanao vote excluded Opposition senatorial bet Aquilino Pimentel III yesterday asked the Commission on Elections to disregard the Maguindanao votes, proclaim him as winner and let rival Juan Miguel Zubiri just file an election protest if he wants to. The Comelec is set to hear Monday the elected local officials in Maguindanao to find out if there is evidence to overturn the assumption of an apparent failure of election in the province. Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos earlier said that if they find no proof of a valid election in Maguindanao, the poll body would be forced to declare a failure of election and call a special election. What the Comelec should do, according to Pimentel, is exclude the provincial certificate of canvass from Maguindanao from the national tabulation of senatorial votes for being unsupported by source documents, like the municipal certificates of canvass. "Having done this, the Comelec may proceed with proclaiming the 12th winning senatorial candidate and the affected person who wanted the Maguindanao votes counted, can later on file an election protest with the Senate Electoral Tribunal," Pimentel said in a statement. Pimentel maintained that the Comelec cannot declare a failure of elections and subsequently call special elections in Maguindanao. If the poll body proceeds to do so, Pimentel said he would question such action before the Supreme Court for being violative of the Omnibus Election Code. "If no election was held in Maguindanao, why were winning candidates for local positions proclaimed by the provincial board of canvassers and municipal board of canvassers?" Pimentel asked. He noted that among the local government officials proclaimed in the province include Rep. Simeon Datumanong, Governor-elect Andal Ampatuan, 22 mayors, several provincial board members and hundreds of municipal councilors. "Any special election in Maguindanao must be called in accordance with the requirements of the law because it is the taxpayers' money, which will be spent for this political exercise," Pimentel said. Pimentel said Section 66 of the Omnibus Election Code, along with Sec. 4 of the Republic Act 7166, clearly provides that a failure of election can only be declared if no election was actually conducted and nobody among the candidates was declared a winner. However, Pimentel admitted earlier that if he brings the issue to the Supreme Court, it is very likely that the 12th winning senator could not be proclaimed as of June 30 this year, when the term of newly elected legislators begins. Pimentel said the case of Maguindanao is different from the 13 towns in Lanao del Sur where a special election was held earlier. In Lanao, Pimentel said the polling precincts were closed or did not function because of violence. In the case of Maguindanao, Pimentel said the provincial COC reached all the way to the Comelec, sitting as the National Board of Canvassers, thus indicating there was an election held in the province. However, Pimentel said Comelec found the Maguindanao COC brought by the provincial election supervisor Lintang Bedol to be unbelievable, with 19 senatorial candidates receiving zero votes. - GMANews.TV