COTABATO CITY, Philippines โ A nonpartisan election monitoring center covering Moro areas has recommended an education campaign on the criminal and civil liabilities of voters and candidates who misbehave during elections to help ensure safe voting in politically hostile areas.
The Independent Election Monitoring Center, or IEMC, based in this city, was launched a week before the May 12 elections. It is jointly operated by the Institute for Autonomy and Governance, the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections, Notre Dame University, Notre Dame Broadcasting Corp., the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting, Climate and Conflict Action Asia, and the Coalition for Social Accountability and Transparency.
Incidents Related to Election
The IEMC documented dozens of election-related incidents, including deadly gunfights among partisans, mostly in Maguindanao del Sur and Basilan provinces during the May 12 balloting.
Retired army officer Dickson Hermoso, an IEMC adviser, told reporters during a dialogue at the centerโs conference room Tuesday afternoon, May 13, that there is an urgent need to warn the public that voters and politicians who commit electoral offenses can be prosecuted.
โThose employed by shrewd politicians to do bad things to boost their winning chances are often unaware of the legal consequences of their actions,โ said Hermoso, who served in various army units in Central Mindanao election hotspots.
He added that a โshow of forceโ by police and the military can help deter saboteurs from approaching polling centers on election day.
โWhen potentially harmful voters and politicians see polling centers tightly guarded by men in uniform, they tend to back off and behave,โ Hermoso said.
Sustained, Pro-Active Efforts
Jamar Kulayan, a commissioner of the National Amnesty Commission and a lawyer who previously served as a regional education official in the now-defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said there is a need for sustained, proactive efforts to prevent electoral irregularities and violenceโespecially ahead of the first-ever Bangsamoro parliamentary elections in October.
Kulayan, also an IEMC adviser, stressed the importance of educating voters and candidates in the Bangsamoro region on the value of safe and clean elections in relation to the Mindanao peace process. That process aims to foster stability and sustainable development through governance under the five-year-old Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, or BARMM.
โWe also need to teach voters about their responsibilities and rights, such as privileges for senior citizens and persons with disabilities at polling centers,โ Kulayan said.
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