PPCRV asks ARMM voters: Stay vigilant

COTABATO CITY—The Church-based Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) has called on voters in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) to be vigilant against manipulation of results of the May 13 elections.

“It is an individual responsibility,” said Fr. David Procalla, PPCRV chair in ARMM.

Procalla, who is also Rosary Heights parish priest here, said the council is still accepting volunteers for field work to help uncover vote manipulation and other forms of fraud in the use of machines that would be used in the elections.

“We have to be sure that assignment of volunteers should not be in areas where their relatives are candidates for elections to avoid partisanship,” said Procalla, who is set to meet with ARMM election director Ray Sumalipao in Davao City this week for a conference with all representatives of various Commission on Elections-deputized agencies.

He said the May 13 synchronized ARMM and midterm elections would be crucial for Muslim Mindanao, which has been tagged during past political exercises as the country’s “cheating capital.”

Procalla said the reflection of the true, sovereign will of the people lies in the hands of canvassing machine operators. “These are the guys inside polling centers that the people should closely watch,” he said.

In the 2004 and 2007 presidential and midterm elections, the dominant opposition got zero votes in most precincts in the autonomous region.

Last week, ARMM leaders promised to deliver votes for the 12 senatorial candidates of the Aquino administration. This time, however, they promised to do it without resorting to fraud. Charlie C. Señase, Inquirer Mindanao