Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—The government should roll out the welcome mat for foreign election observers who are genuinely interested in looking at the integrity of Philippine elections this May, Team PNoy senatorial candidate Edgardo “Sonny” Angara told Radyo INQUIRER Saturday.
Angara said that an international consensus on the integrity of the electoral process has the same weight as a credit rating upgrade.
Foreign observers who will visit the country in time for the mid-term elections “will see nothing but the maturity and integrity” of the electoral process, he said.
“Let them observe and write about the integrity of the political processes here,” Angara said.
There will be 18,022 national and local positions to be decided next month—12 senators, 229 district members of the House of Representatives, 80 provincial governors, 80 provincial vice governors, 766 members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (provincial legislature), 138 city mayors, 138 city vice mayors, 1,532 members of the Sangguniang Panlungsod (city council), 1,496 municipal mayors, 1,496 municipal vice mayors, and 11,972 members of the Sangguniang Bayan (municipal council).
In the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), voters will choose one regional governor, one regional vice governor, and 24 regional assemblymen. Party-list representatives will also be elected.
According to Angara, the pursuit of economic growth should be complemented by a demonstration of political maturity.
The lawmaker from Aurora expressed confidence that the elections will be peaceful, honest and credible.
He assured the people that the Liberal Party and other members of the ruling political coalition would not countenance any election-related fraud.