Lanao election whistleblower dies

OZAMIZ CITY, Philippines—Hadji Lacs Dalidig, a member of an election watchdog body who exposed alleged cheating and vote-buying in Lanao del Sur during the 2004 presidential election, died at noon Saturday, his colleagues said.

Abul Alibasa and Samira Cutoc, Dalidig’s colleagues in the Reform ARMM Now Movement, said the whistleblower suffered from diabetes but the exact cause of his death was not immediately known.

Dalidig’s remains will be brought to the lakeside town of Balindong in Lanao del Sur for the traditional Muslim burial rites.

It was Dalidig, then a member of the  Islamic Movement for Electoral Reform and Good Governance,  who exposed the alleged massive cheating and vote buying in Lanao del Sur during the 2004 presidential elections.

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo defeated the widely known Fernando Poe Jr. in the 2004 election.

Dalidig’s claim barely made it to the national media until the “Hello Garci” scandal broke in 2005.

The alleged wiretapped conversations between Arroyo and then Election Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano gave credence to Dalidig’s claims of fraud.