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Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts Volume IV, Number 15 May 16 - 22, 2004 Quezon City, Philippines |
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Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts Volume IV, Number 15 May 16 - 22, 2004 Quezon City, Philippines |
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“No
One Should Have to Die...Just so Elections may be Held” –
Int’l Election Observer
By
Alexander Martin Remollino
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Election observer Rebecca Lawson Photo by Arkibong Bayan |
As
this is being written a fact-finding mission is in Isabela, a province in
Northern Luzon some eight hours by bus from Manila, to investigate incidents of
electoral fraud and violence in the said province. Joining the fact-finding
mission are members of the International Ecumenical Electoral Monitoring Mission
(IEEMM), a group of 15 persons from the United States, Australia, Germany, and
other countries observing the conduct of the present elections. The members come
from various backgrounds. Common
among them is their experience in development work in their capacity as church
workers, trade unionists, among others. The
IEEMM, which has recently hit the front pages of big Philippine dailies, is not
to be confused with the election monitoring team sent over by the U.S. in the
first week of this month under the auspices of its Agency for International
Development (USAID). |
The
USAID-sponsored election observer team, which is affiliated with such entities
as the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) and the
International Republican Institute (IRI), has drawn denunciation from
cause-oriented groups because of a perception that its members were sent over
with the objective of advancing U.S. foreign policy interests, contrary to its
professed aims of helping to safeguard democracy. They had been invited by the
Philippine government in response to an offer by the NDI earlier this year,
ostensibly to ensure the credibility of the present elections.
“We
are differing (from that other group) in many ways, one is that we were invited
by a movement other than the government,” says American Rebecca “Becca”
Lawson, 31, who has also been working with the Union Theological Seminary and
the United Churches of Christ in the Philippines since 1996.
The
delegates to the IEEMM were invited over by the church-initiated broad alliance
Patriots (A Movement for Peace, Justice and Good Governance), which is presently
conducting regular actions for clean elections and advocating a platform of
governance for whoever will win in the elections based on sovereignty and social
justice. “We were given the mandate of going around and trying to document
fraud and violence,” Becca says.
“I
would say we report directly to the Filipino people through Patriots,” she
adds.
Many
of the IEEMM’s members came to the Philippines especially for the elections,
Becca shares.
While
some are first-time visitors to the Philippines, others had been here before but
only for only short periods. Some were seen during the Cordillera Day
celebration in Tocucan, Bontoc, Mt.Province (some 13 hours from Manila) last
April 23-24.
Becca
has been involved in solidarity work with the Filipino people for a number of
years. She is also a member of the Philippine International Forum, a network of
church people and development workers supporting the Filipino people’s
struggle for freedom and democracy. She was, of late, also involved in the
Philippine protest against the U.S.-led war on Iraq.
So
far, what is the IEEMM’s general observation of the present elections in
general? Let’s hear it from Becca.
“For
me it was definitely disappointing,” she says, “and I think that was also
echoed by the other members of the mission.
“It
was shocking to hear how often the people we talked to would use the comment
‘Oh, we in this area are peaceful and God-fearing people,’ and then they
would go on to say, ‘Oh, there is vote-buying going on here, this is the way
things are working in this place...’ and how there were special projects in
some areas used to influence the people.
“And
of course the (people’s) experiences of harassments, death threats that
municipal mayors were employing...”
An
exit poll conducted by the survey group Social Weather Station last May 10 shows
that 900,000 persons were unable to vote that day. Both the IEEMM and media
quote Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioners as saying that there has
been fraud in the present elections; in particular, the May 10 editorial of the
Philippine Daily Inquirer cites Comelec chair Benjamin Abalos as saying that
many voters’ lists contained names of dead people.
Meanwhile,
the Philippine National Police itself has admitted to the media that the present
elections have been violent, with 142 cases of election-related violence having
taken place as of last May 13.
“I’ve
been trying to find the exact words to describe it,” says Becca,
“because...actually in today’s (May 14) paper, GMA (President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo) used the term ‘sensationalism,’ (said) that we
‘sensationalize’ small incidents.
“I
think it’s an overflowing bucket of water, but what you’re looking at is all
of these drops of water, and all of these drops are significant in themselves,
and when you put them all together you have this overflowing bucket. And yet
they say, ‘Oh, it’s sensationalized,’ because they say we weren’t going
to any specific place in our experiences.”
The
IEEMM, as Becca says, has gone around the country, placing special focus on what
they call the hotspots such as the provinces of Quezon, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga,
and Pangasinan.
“Long-term
commitments”
So
how long are they going to be involved in the elections?
Says
Becca: “Many of us have already made long-term commitments, whether or not we
stay (here) or go back to the countries we reside in on a regular basis. So
it’s never really over, until the Filipino people really have their
duly-elected government.”
She
parts with a message: “No one should have to die...just so elections may be
held.” Bulatlat.com
We want to know what you think of this article.
“It
was shocking to hear how often the people we talked to would use the comment
‘Oh, we in this area are peaceful and God-fearing people,’ and then they
would go on to say, ‘Oh, there is vote-buying going on here, this is the way
things are working in this place...’ and how there were special projects in
some areas used to influence the people.”