IN FOCUS

Heavy. Rev. Larry Emery of the International Observer Mission (IOM) in front of Guimba Municipal Hall in Nueva Ecija guarded by heavily-armed military men.Photo by IOM-NE

GUIMBA, Nueva Ecija--About 30 people are huddled around the canvassing table in a small room approximately 6 m. by 12. m. at the municipal hall of Guimba, Nueva Ecija. Outside in the narrow corridor, soldiers with M-16 rifles watch as people peer through the glass window.

More soldiers with rifles at the ready stand at the entrance of the white two-story building. An armored personnel carrier, its guns pointed skyward, is parked in a corner inside the compound facing the hall.

Its early morning of May 15, 2007, the day after the midterm elections in the Philippines. The People’s International Observers’ Mission-Nueva Ecija Team arrived here two nights before from Manila to observe the election in the province declared by the Comelec as an “area of concern.”

After a day of visits to polling places and interviews with voters, poll watchers, village officials, teachers and Comelec officials, Rev. Larry Emery, a Prebysterian pastor from the United States and spokesperson of the 18-man team has definite conclusions.

“It is almost impossible to expect credible elections with the procedures that we have seen. Election laws are deliberately violated,” Emery told GLNS.

Carmen and Marcel Ingles, both from Norway, came with Emery to Guimba as part of the 25-man international contingent from ten countries that fanned-out to seven regions nationwide for the mission .

IN FOCUS

Crammed. The canvassing room in in Guimba, Nueva Ecija.Photo by IOM-NE

No tally board

At the canvassing room, the first thing the team noticed is that there was no tally board for public viewing where the votes from the precincts are supposed to be listed as they are canvassed.

Only the Comelec officials and teachers can see how the votes are tallied. Watchers have to look over the shoulders of the officials to examine the minute numbers and letters on the tally sheets.

There are 56,608 registered voters listed in 278 precincts in Guimba’s 64 barangays. Three candidates are running against mayoral candidate Jose Francis Dizon, brother of the incumbent mayor Bopet Dizon. The Dizons are aligned with the powerful Joson family who has dominated Nueva Ecija politics for the past four decades.

Open ballot boxes

On the night of May 14, the team observed that most of the ballot boxes being brought to the Comelec office from the barangays were open. The padlocks of most of the ballot boxes were not latched shut.

IN FOCUS

Fixing the Ballot Box?. The International Observer Mission (IOM) noted with dismay such cases of open ballot boxes arriving at the Guimba Municipal Hall.Photo by IOM-NE

The teachers who arrived with the ballot boxes were instructed by Comelec officials to make last minute adjustments such as filling out the election minutes forms and arranging the voters’ registration records alphabetically.

Election returns, used and unused ballots were taken out of the ballot boxes and there were no poll watchers to observe and complain. There were only three Comelec officials to receive and process the election materials as they come. By dawn, long rows of ballot boxes along with teachers fatigued from working nearly 24 hours have formed under the trees outside the Comelec office.

Order

On May 15, Guimba Comelec board of canvassers chairperson Leonardo Navarro issued a handwritten order to “ AFP personnel or military to secure the canvassing hall.” This order was issued upon “verbal instruction” of Comelec director Emmanuel Ignacio. A snapshot of the order was taken by the mission’s documentation team.

Nine people have been killed in election-related violence in the province since the campaign period started in February. Two of the murders occurred in Guimba.

But the deployment of troops at the Guimba town hall contradicts the statements from local officials and the police that the election was “peaceful and orderly.”

IN FOCUS

Handwritten. This is the order for AFP personnel to "secure the canvassing hall".

Asked about the basis of the troop deployment at the town hall, P/Supt. Danilo Fernando said “I don’t know. It was the Comelec who issued the order.”

But Emery sees the deployment of troops as part of the pattern to “intimidate and undermine the electoral process.”

At about 9 pm on May 15, the canvassing was suspended and resumed shortly before 8 am the next day. The reason given was that the board of canvassers were too tired to work. The suspension of the canvassing allows for all sorts of anomalies to happen, the team noted.

Disenfranchisement

The IOM team observed that there were Barangay Defense Sytem [BDS] checkpoints along the road in all the barangays they visited. In Barangay Yuson, the mission interviewed voters who narrated sad experiences resulting from the deployment of troops in their village since 2005 that resulted in a “new type of disenfranchisement.”

Tessa Gado, 55, told the mission that her son, John, was killed allegedly by soldiers inside their home in Barangay Yuson on July 4, 2006. Gado told the mission that her son was a Bayan Muna poll watcher in the 2004 elections.

She said all the men in her village have been physically and verbally abused by the military and fear reigns in the village to this day.

Gado said the military who were deployed in their village accused her son of being an NPA member. She told the mission that all the men in her village were punched or physically and verbally abused by the military and their fear of the military have affected voters particularly their vote on the party list.

Bantay party

A torture victim who asked not to be identified told the mission that he voted for the Bantay party because “that is what the military wanted.”

He said he was informed of the instructions to vote for Bantay a day before the election.

Ret. Gen. Jovito Palparan, who is being blamed for the spate of extra judicial executions since he was assigned to Central Luzon in Sepyember 2005, is the first nominee of the Bantay party.

IN FOCUS

Disenfranchisement. Rev. Larry Emery of the International Observer Mission (IOM) interviews a villager in Guimba, Nueva Ecija.Photo by IOM-NE

In Barangay Manggang Marikit, Maximo Daileg, a barangay official told the mission more than 100 people were summoned to the village hall by soldiers where they were interrogated and threatened. They were told not to support the Bayan Muna, Anak Pawis and Gabriela parties.

In this year’s election the barangay council decided not to support Bayan Muna, Anak Pawis and Gabriela because of pressure from the military. Daileg told the mission they voted for the Bantay party against their will.

“Militarization and human rights violations have spawned a new type of disenfranchisement that is borne out of fear and terror,” Emery said in a statement issued May 14. Barangays Yuson and Manggang Marikit are known to be strongholds of progressive party list groups.

The Josons

Six members of the Joson family are candidates in this year’s elections. Mariano ‘Boyet’ Joson ran for governor while his nephew, Thomas Edward Joson was his running mate for vice governor. Eduardo ‘Edno’ Joson and Eduardo ‘Ding Liit’ Joson ran for congress in the province’s 1st and and 3rd districts, respectively.

Thomas Joson III and Dale Joson ran for mayor in Cabanatuan City and Quezon town, respectively. The candidates for governor, mayor of Cabanatuan City and the two candidates for congress are brothers.

The candidate for vice governor is the son of the mayoral candidate in Cabanatuan City. Thomas Joson III, who has just finished his three-year term as governor. Josephine Joson, wife of Boyet Joson, is the incumbent congresswoman in the 1st district.

The dominance of the clan goes as far back in 1946 when the father of the Joson siblings, Eduardo, also known as ‘Tatang’ served as mayor of Quezon town. In 1961 ‘Tatang’ won the governorship and since then his sons assumed key positions in the province. The clan gradually tightened its grip on local politics that remain to this day.

The team noted in its report that the tight grip of the Josons in Nueva Ecija politics ‘made the conduct of free and honest elections difficult, if not impossible.’

Mission Findings

The highlights of the mission findings include:

1. The presence of military men and the police in the municipal canvassing area significantly affected the number of people who can watch the canvass of elections. The presence of barangay officials in all the precincts visited affected the voter’s free choice of candidates and parties.
   
   
2. Harassment and intimidation of poll watchers compromised the accepted check and balance system established for the transparency and openness of the election process.
3. The municipal COMELEC officials failed to ensure that the rules and procedures to guard the sanctity of the ballot were followed. In many barangays visited, only poll watchers from the BALANE-Kampi party, the party of the Joson clan, were present.
   
   
4. The independence of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) tally is compromised by the fact that most of its electoral returns were obtained from the municipal COMELEC instead of the precinct level.

IN FOCUS

Protest. Supporters of mayoralty candidates in Guimba, Nueva Ecija trooped to the Municipal Hall to "secure their votes".Photo by IOM-NE

Protest

As the team was about to leave after having lunch on May 16, it was informed that the three mayoralty candidates in Guimba who ran against the incumbent mayor Jose Francis Dizon have joined forces and will lead a protest at the town hall. Dizon is aligned with the Joson family.

At 2 pm, hundreds of people began massing-up in front of the Guimba town hall. They climbed over walls and rushed through the gates to defy a barricade put-up by soldiers and police.

Angel Santos, one of the mayoral candidates told the team that they will file a petition for failure of elections because of massive poll irregularities that occurred to insure the victory of Dizon. A press conference was held later in the afternoon by the protesting candidates who described the alleged poll anomalies and called on the people ‘to end dynastic rule’ in the province.

The team left before dusk with the demonstration still in full swing. The team later learned that during the night, the army and the police tried to disperse the protesters.