IN FOCUS

Taking Oath. Governor-elect Ed "Among" Panlilio took his oath of office in June 30Photo by Pokus-GL.

City of San Fernando – Different local government offices in Pampanga (about 58 kilometers north of Manila), the Commission on Elections, the police and the military all pronounced the concluded electoral exercise here as “generally peaceful and orderly.”

Mr Arnljot Ask of Norway, an international solidarity volunteer and spokesperson of the Pampanga Team of the Peoples’ International Observer’s Mission (PIOM) who observed the conduct of the elections here said last May 14 they were unable to document election-related violence such as killings, abductions, grenade-throwing and other forms victimizing candidates, supporters, organizers and innocent civilians which characterized the country’s past elections.

Sister Cecil Ruiz of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines and leader of the PIOM Pampanga Team said they had not seen much of it a week, even a month or so before the election. But she countered, “Beneath the province’s peaceful election are a people skeptical of the last political exercise and uneasy now that it is over.”

A storm after the calm?

On June 6 at around 11:25 p.m., 164 of 399 ballot boxes stored in the stock room of the municipal hall of Mabalacat (24 kms. north of the provincial capitol of the City of San Fernando or CSF) were mysteriously burned. Director General Oscar Calderon, Chief of the Philippine National Police tagged the town’s Mayor-reelect Marino Morales as a “probable suspect” to the crime.

The said ballot boxes contained election documents which are subject of protest by losing gubernatorial candidate Lilia Pineda and mayoralty candidate Anthony Dee against Governor-elect ‘Among Ed’ Panlilio and Morales himself.

SMS reports by concerned citizens to the Pampanga PIOM Team on the night of May 15 claimed that the Barangay chairman of Kalsadang Bayu in the municipality of Porac, (25 kms. south-west of CSF) whose name the team was unable to ascertain allegedly drove Gov. Panlilio’s watchers out of the precinct and barred them from guarding his votes.

So far, there have been three incidents of shooting of community leaders in three different towns of the province which claimed the lives of two and the wounding of a third.

Talks in the streets of the province have it that the deaths of Mario “Jomar” Nulud of San Juan Bautista, Guagua (10.31 kms. south of the CSF) and Benigno Sigua of Mabalacat plus the ambush attempt on Fernando Jalung of Porac over a week after election were due to their being Panlilio supporters.

Two of them, pocketed the money but failed to deliver votes for another gubernatorial candidate who has allegedly poured them big money to ensure the said candidate’s victory.

Dismissed

Central Luzon PNP Director Chief Superintendent Ismael Rafanan quickly dismissed all the shootings as non election-related. In a press conference last May 30 Chief Supt. alleged that the Rebolusyonaryong Hukbong Bayan (RHB, a break away faction of the mainstream New Peoles Army in Central Luzon) killed Jomar Nulud in May 28.

Nulud, a former rebel, was a known supporter of ‘Among’ Panlilio. The RHB on a statement posted by Inquirer News said they have no reason to kill Nulud.

Panlilio himself and his staff had allegedly received at least three death threats.

The threats included one that said his first media conference at his election headquarters along Jose Abad Santos Avenue (formerly Olongapo-Gapan Road), San Fernando in June 14 will be bombed.

They had to transfer the venue to the nearby Fortune Restaurant where the police thought he can be less vulnerable and tripled his security for the day.

Panlilio admitted political vendetta behind the killings is the popular perception but is difficult to conclude. He refused to bear out that they suspect anyone in particular.

Political dynasties and elections centered on personalities

“After years of being away from the country I realized how heavily political dynasties influence the country’s electoral life. Elections here are complex, personality centered and very expensive exercise. It serves only to perpetuate a few elite’s hold to power,” Ms. Aimee Beboso of the Canada Ontario Committee on Human Rights for the Philippines, Spokesperson of the Pampanga PIOM Team said in May 14.

In Angeles City (75 kms. Norh of Manila) the outgoing City Mayor Carmelo ‘Tarzan’ Lazatin won a seat in the House of Representatives against ‘Jonjon’ Nepomuceno, the son of ‘Blue Boy’ Nepomuceno. Blue Boy Nepomuceno in turn defeated Gerard ‘Gepoy’ Lazatin who wanted to replace his old man ‘Tarzan’ as City Mayor. Both family have a long political history and have been contending the rule in the city.

Mark Lapid, son of the incumbent Senator Lito Lapid lost in his reelection bid as governor against Panlilio.

Meanwhile, former provincial board member Lilia Pineda, another candidate who lost to Panlilio got a son Dennis Pineda who’s reelected as mayor of the town of Lubao whose wife in turn won the mayoralty race in the adjacent municipality of Sta. Rita, about 16 kms. south of CSF.

The province also has Mikey Arroyo, a presidential son who secured a second term as district representative uncontested.

Traditional political parties Lakas ng Masa -Christian-Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD), Kabalikat ng Mamamayang Pilipino (Kampi), Partido ng Mamamayang Pilipino (PMP), Liberal Party, Nationalista Party scramble for the electorates’ votes with none offering a platform distinct from any other.

Vote-buying

Mr. Ask in citing a part of the Pampanga Team’s final report to the PIOM said they started their observation a day before the elections. They were unable to document the widely reported vote buying, and other pre-election frauds alleged to have been widespread in the 2004 presidential elections which put Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to power.

“But election here is too slow and has so many levels, from the precinct to the municipal and the cities, to the provincial and to the national levels. Wide-scale fraud can be done easily on all the levels specially after the precinct,” Ask averred.

The camp of the incumbent Governor Mark Lapid provided the Pampanga Team a copy of their documented reports which cited at least six cases of vote buying, filled up ballots inserted on food packs distributed to teachers and watchers, transport of opened up or unlocked ballots, and other forms of election frauds in the City of San Fernando, Floridablanca, Mexico and other parts of the province.

The Pampanga PIOM Team was also prompted of the case at the Arayat municipality where armed men took at gun-point at least six ballot boxes being transported from the community of Candating to the municipal hall. One of the men transporting the boxes was pushed to a creek.

Voters interviewed alleged that there really were vote buying and bribery, and that payoffs were from Php300 (US$6.50) to Php500 (US$10.85) a week for “street team” members and leaders, respectively, to vote for the Angeles City Mayoralty candidate ‘Gepoy’ Lazatin.

IN FOCUS

Supporters. Supporters gather at governor-elect Ed "Among" Panlilio's oath-taking in June 30. Photo by Pokus-GL.

Disenfranchisement

In Sta. Lucia Elementary School in CSF at least 33 voters were disenfranchised as they failed to find their names in the voters list. In Angeles City Elementary School a poll chairperson to her dismay found her name transferred to another precinct after searching it for two hours. At the Apong Guidang Nepomuceno Elementary School also in Angeles City a man whose name was also missing from the list in the precinct where he had always voted for the past elections was unable to vote.

In Arayat a woman whose name was also mysteriously transferred to another precinct was surprised to find out the name of her husband who was unable to vote that day and was listed twice in the same voters’ list.

Electioneering particularly the distribution of sample ballots and campaign materials inside and outside the voting areas on election day practically by all candidates, political parties and even party-lists save the militant ones like Bayan Muna, Anak Pawis and Gabriela Women’s Party was observably rampant.

Voters’ ‘assistance centers’ had been set up with volunteers wearing huge IDs, T-shirts, and stickers with slogans of particular candidates in the precincts of Angeles City particularly for the Lazatins; and for Mayor Oscar Rodriguez of the CSF.

Militarizing and marginalizing the marginalized

The Pampanga PIOM Team documented but a few cases of military and police presence on polling precincts of the communities they observed.

But Mr. Ask dealt: “Militarization of elections here can’t just be defined as the massive presence of uniformed armed men, but the fear instilled in the electorates’ hearts a month, even a year or two prior to the elections.”

Human rights group Karapatan Central Luzon’s summary for 2006 stated not lower than 23 cases of summary executions; 58 forced disappearances; 25 frustrated killings and 21 massacres. This data include the killings of noted provincial progressive organizations and party-lists leaders such as Francisco Rivera of Angeles City.

The summary has yet to include the botched abduction of Joseph Canlas, Anak Pawis Central Luzon regional coordinator last April 21 of this year when eight heavily-armed men looking for him forcibly entered his home in Barangay Balite, Arayat at about 10:30 pm and mauled his nephew to extract information of his whereabouts.

Canlas, under intense surveillance since the long spate of abductions and extra-judicial executions started in Central Luzon in 2005 led by the now retired General Jovito Palparan believed the 703rd army brigade based in Barangay San Juan Bano by the foot of Arayat Mountain to be behind the attempt on his life.

Six people, all identified with progressive groups were abducted and remain missing in the region in February and March this year, the latest of which is that of Jonas Burgos, a son on the late Jose Burgos who founded and published the well-respected We Forum magazine and Malaya, a daily.

Two failed abduction attempts during the same period have also been documented by human rights groups here.

Overstepping constitutional duty

In a consolidated report, the PIOM said extra-judicial killings, campaigning for or against particular candidates or political party, disenfranchisement of voters of opposition, intimidation and harassment, deployment in opposition influenced communities are many of the ways that the military overstepped its constitutional duty.

“Military checkpoints and Barangay Defense Systems have sprouted all over Pampanga besides the continuous recruitment, training and maximum use of the Citizen Armed Forces Geographical Units. Whether the Arroyo government admits it or not they were used to influence the elections to favor her questionable mandate,” said Sister Ruiz.

In Pulung Bulu, Angeles City just five meters off the school’s gate a squad of the Alpha Coy of the 69th Infantry Battalion is housed at the barangay hall right in front of the Angeles City Elementary School

Village Chairperson Gloria Tanhueco admitted that the military detachment was meant to neutralize the influence of the leftists and terrorists in the barangay, and among those classified as leftists and terrorists are party lists like Bayan Muna, Anak Pawis, Gabriela and other progressive peoples’ organization and their sympathizers.

Tanhueco also said that Bayan Muna topped her community’s Party list canvass both in 2001 and 2004 elections like many of the barangay in Angeles City. But in the latest electoral exercise the Bayan Muna and other progressive partylists failed to vigorously campaign in Pulung Bulu and other nearby barangay.

In Barangay Sta. Lucia, CSF a local leader of Bayan Muna admitted that the ‘decline’ in popularity and activity of the progressive partylist in the area was due to the insistence of the military that they are communist fronts.

The Pampanga PIOM mission found military detachments within 50 meters of schools and polling precincts in Barangay Santa Lucia and San Jose Panlumacan also in the CSF with big “anti-terrorist” streamers prominently displayed over them.

Ask averred: “These may have affected the Filipino masses willingness to participate in the electoral process in general and the party list system in particular, as can be gleaned from the canvass results of towns like San Luis (19 kms. east-north-east of CSF),with a measly 55% voters’ turn out and just a 27% participation on the party list elections.”

A zero tally in fact was posted in the said town for the partylist Bayan Muna after the canvassing evening of last May 15. A local leader who voted for Bayan Muna pointed it out to the municipal Comelec. The tally later was altered with “339 votes.”

The progressive partylists’ Pampanga tally shows Bayan Muna’s 19,005 for this election went down from 36,443 of 2004; Anak Pawis slide to 4,608 from 2004’s 9,636; Kabataan likewise inched down to 5,114 from 5,294; and Suara getting a measely 28 votes from 2004’s 328; but Gabriela Women’s Party’s votes appreciated to 9,488 from 2004’s 7,228.

The failure of Bayan Muna and other progressive partylists to vigorously campaign speaks much of the affect of the military gripping the minds of the people compounding the big gap in the people’s understanding and/or appreciation of the partylist system.

A minority governor on an Arroyo stronghold

IN FOCUS

Minority Governor. Only a handful of politicians graced governor-elect Ed "Among" Panlilio's oath-taking in June 30. Photo by Pokus-GL.

The political pundits and media analysts here are one in seeing Panlilio’s 1,147 votes victory against his rivals more as a vote against jueteng and corruption particularly of the quarry kind than a vote against the incumbent president.

Arsenio ‘Bong’ Lacson, a veteran media practitioner in his Zona Libre column in Punto news last June 2 said Panlilio’s victory is an orphaned thunder in mid-summer, and should not be mistaken as the start of the rains -- Pampanga remains a Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo province.

The 649,140 combined votes of Panlilio, Pineda and Lapid are but 60% of the province’s voting populace. Therefore, Panlilio’s 219,706 votes which are about 19% make him a minority governor.

It was no secret that prior to the elections Mrs. Arroyo was torn as who to support as gubernatorial candidate between Lapid and Pineda. And that only four of the 20 Mayors of the province supported Panlilio during the elections.

In the immediate vicinity of the capitol Lacson said all those who won bear the indelible Mrs. Arroyo ink: the Vice Governor is a Kampi while of the 10 who won the provincial board seats three are from the Lakas-CMD and the rest are Kampi.

On the broader local policy environment: 11 of the 20 Mayors are Kampi and nine are Lakas-CMD. Of the four congressional districts: Lazatin of the Lakas-CMD is on the 1st district; Mrs. Arroyo’s eldest son Mikey Macapagal-Arroyo is on the 2nd; Dong Gonzales of Kampi on the 3rd; and Anna York Bondoc-Sagum of the Nacionalista Party (who’s got no less than Ms. Arroyo as a “Ninang” or wedding sponsor) on the 4th.

The senatorial election here was no different, the first eight places are all Arroyo blessed: the Capampangan descent Francisco Pangilinan on top; with Team Unity’s Joker Arroyo, Ralf Recto, Mike Defensor, Edgardo Angara, Prospero Pichay, Juan Miguel Zubiri and Vicente Sotto in that order. Genuine Oppositions Manuel Villar, Loren Legarda, Francis Escudero and Benigno Aquino III got the 9th to 12th places.

How this will impact on Gov. Panlilio’s three year watch remains to be seen. He himself has not been known as the clenched fist, fire-breathing type, and has neither professed that he will be a pro nor an anti-Arroyo governor.