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“Clean, honest, accurate, meaningful and peaceful [CHAMP]
elections in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao [ARMM].”
Sixteen ARMM civil society organizations and the
Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) recently
pledged themselves to this vision during a three-day summit workshop
at the Pius XII Center.
In a memorandum of agreement signed just before
the summit ended, the participants vowed “to exercise its
resources for the protection of the integrity of the electoral
process and to dissuade and prevent the commission of fraudulent
acts in the ARMM elections, particularly during the voting, counting
and canvassing process.”
Comelec Chairman Jose Melo, who witnessed the
signing of the MOA, stressed that the commission needs civil society
partners as it faces serious credibility issues.
He said that Comelec’s partnership with PPCRV
and civil society organizations prove that those who want the ARMM
election to succeed outnumber those who don’t and doubt it can be
done with integrity and without fraud.
He said that the coming ARMM
elections—if successful—can become a turning point in the
country’s electoral history.
“Technology,” Melo said, “is critical
because it makes the system more efficient. The ARMM elections could
act as a catalyst of change that would turn the tide in Philippine
electoral history.”
Controversies hounded the 2007 national
elections in the ARMM with charges of fraud, violence and cheating,
allegedly altering the results of the last two places in the
senatorial race involving Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri and Atty. Aquilino
“Koko” Pimentel 3rd.
During the 2004 elections, the infamous “Hello
Garci” tapes pointed to ARMM as one of the centers of cheating
operations allegedly orchestrated by then Comelec Commissioner
Virgilio Garcillano Jr. to favor President Gloria Arroyo against
opposition candidate Fernando Poe Jr.
The Ulama and the ARMM Elections
This collaboration between the PPCRV and ARMM
civil society organizations (CSO) began last year to monitor the
2007 national elections. Aware of the influence that the ulama
(Muslim religious leaders) have in the community, the Philippine
Council for Islam and Democracy (PCID) arranged for the PPCRV to
meet with the Assembly of the Darul Ifta in Zamboanga City on April
2007. The ulama readily welcomed a partnership with the PPCRV and
signed a MOA.
This year, the Muftis of the ARMM representing
the Assembly of the Darul Ifta of the Philippines supported the
multi-sectoral and inter-faith effort towards credible elections in
ARMM and attended the three-day summit. Darul Ifta is an Arabic noun
referring to the “house of Islamic and legal opinion.” This is
the assembly of the most senior ulama and the most recognized
scholars in the community of Muslims who deliberate, discuss,
reflect and interpret issues concerning Islam.
Ambassador Henrietta de Villa, the PPCRV
chairperson, hailed the presence of the Muslim religious leaders as
“a new history unfolding.” She expressed hope that the
tri-partite coalition of the PPCRV, the Darul Ifta and civil society
organizations will achieve a new electoral order characterized by
responsible voting and good governance.
Tawi-Tawi Mufti Abdulwahid Inju, representing
the Darul Ifta Assembly, explained that the participation of the
Darul Ifta is an indication of the Muslim religious leaders’
“strong response” not only to the sad state of affairs of
Philippine elections but specifically the “sarcastic perception
that ARMM is the cheating capital of the Philippines.”
Calling this perception “heartbreaking” and
“distressing,” Mufti Inju appealed to all ulama and other
sectors of Muslim communities to unite and prove that Islam is a
religion of peace, honesty, justice, and development. Inju also
called “for a peaceful and meaningful election through which
reforms are achieved for the transformation and general welfare of
the people of ARMM.”
Amina Rasul of the Philippine Council for Islam
and Democracy (PCID) for her part stressed that ARMM was not always
the basket case for elections in the country. There was a time, she
claimed, when “relatively free and fair” elections were
conducted in the region. Martial law, which replaced civilian
authority with military rule, destroyed all semblance of democracy
in Muslim Mindanao. She further argued that rather than military
solutions, a credible election along with genuine democracy,
justice, and equitable development are strong instruments to combat
terrorism.
Ustadz Esmael Ebrahim, on the other hand, batted
for the appointment of a “credible Muslim” to the Comelec as a
way “to erase the credibility deficit of the commission.”
Ebrahim, who acts as the spokesman for the Darul Ifta assembly, also
urged government to revive the stalled talks with the Moro Islamic
Liberation Front (MILF), which has been at an impasse since December
2007. The elections, he said, must be conducted in an atmosphere of
peace.
The summit was supported by The Asia Foundation.
It was also attended by representatives from Comelec, the Philippine
National Police (PNP), and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
Automation to change rules of the game?
The Commission on Elections will implement
automated voting during the August 11 ARMM elections as a pilot test
for the 2010 national elections. Some sectors have expressed concern
over the implementation of the automation because of lack of time,
the high level of illiteracy in the region, and the rampant power
outages in the region.
Comelec Executive Director Jose Tolentino said
that the automation of elections is intended to increase the
accuracy and efficiency of the counting of votes which traditionally
takes weeks, even months, to finish.
Comelec Spokesman Atty. James Jimenez noted that
automation changes the rules of the game as the counting and
canvassing will not be accessible to the naked eye. He stressed that
the success of automation is not only dependent on the machines
working properly but on the support of civil society organizations.
Two types of automation will be tested in the
elections: direct recording electronics (DRE), otherwise known as
automated voting machine (AVM) and the optical machine reader (OMR).
The former will be utilized in the province of Maguindanao while OMR
will be used in the rest of the region.
DRE, implemented by Smartmatic Inc., automates
the process from voting to the counting of votes while OMR
technology, implemented by Avante Inc., automates only the counting
phase. Voters in Maguindanao will vote using touch- screen computers
that will allow them to choose by simply pressing the photo of the
candidate they wish to vote for. The vote will be electronically
sent to a canvassing center which will tally all the votes.
The rest of ARMM will vote by shading an oval
beside the name of the candidate of their choice. The ballots
(inside locked ballot boxes) will then be transported to the 13
automated counting centers strategically placed in the provinces of
Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, Sulu, Shariff Kabunsuan and Lanao del Sur.
Representatives of Avante, Inc. claimed that
their machines can count 100 ballots per minute. From the counting
centers, the data will then be transferred electronically to the
canvassing center, which will also tabulate the results of DRE.
Tolentino explained that both technologies will
be tested in public on August 8 and will be sealed to be opened only
during election day. It will then be zeroed out on Election Day to
ensure that no data has been previously stored.
In response to the problem of power supply which
traditionally and mysteriously appears during the counting phase of
every election, both contractors assured the Comelec that the
machines have standby batteries that can last for 16 hours and can
also run on car batteries if necessary.
The proponents of the ORM technology however
explained that while automation addresses the problem of the
inefficiency of the counting process, people’s vigilance is still
required to prevent cheating and fraud in the elections. It has to
be ensured that no ballot box switching happens from the precinct to
the counting centers.
The 16 civil society organizations that signed
the agreement include: Al-Mujadilah Development Foundation (AMDF)
Inc.; Bangsamoro Lawyers Network(BLN); Basilan Women’s Initiative
Foundation (BWIF) Inc.; Citizens Coalition for ARMM Electoral
Reforms(C-CARE) Inc.; Concerned Alliance of Professors and Students
(CAPS) Inc.; Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society (CBCS) Inc.;
Electoral Reform Advocates (ERA); Maranao People Development Center
(Maradeca) Inc.; Mindanao Cross (Mincross); Muslim Women Peace
Advocates-Sulu Council (MWPA) Inc.; Nagdilaab Foundation (NFI) Inc.;
Notre Dame Broadcasting Corp. (NDBC); Philippine Council for Islam
and Democracy (PCID); Sulu State College Master in Public
Administration Alumni Association (SSC-MPA-A) Inc.; Tulung Lupa Sug
(TLS) Inc.; and United Youth for Peace and Development (UNYPAD) Inc.
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