Halal: Investigate electoral fraud in Maguindanao

ASIDE from a few sentences on election reform, poll fraud was not tackled during President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s state of the nation address. Yet Halalang Marangal is adamantly keeping the issue alive.

Halal’s fourth audit report concludes that “there were statistical and circumstantial evidence indicating that the results from Maguindanao were fraudulent, yet these were accepted by the National Board of Canvassers as part of the official results.”

Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri, a Team Unity (TU) candidate, was the “biggest beneficiary” of the Maguindanao CoC fraud, adds Halal, because the statistically improbable results from six Maguindanao municipalities gave him a 19,292 vote-margin over bitter rival Aquilino Pimentel III and propelled him to the winner’s circle.

Halal is calling for a thorough investigation of the Maguindanao election fraud.

Read Halal’s fourth audit report.

Other findings of the 25-page report include the following:

• Essential information were missing or plain wrong in the election reports of one-third of all the cities and provinces canvassed, indicating laxity bordering on negligence and/or incompetence on the part of Comelec (Commission on Election) officials who prepared, submitted, or accepted those reports.

• The voter turnout was abnormally high in at least two provinces: Maguindanao (93.5%) and Shariff Kabunsuan (91.5%) and some municipalities of other Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) provinces.

• The ballot fill up rate was statistically impossible in at least four cities: Quezon City (15.3), Mandaluyong (13.0), Pasig (12.6), and Paranaque (12.6) and in 6 of the 22 municipalities of Maguindanao.

• Significant changes in rankings suggest anomalous provincial/city Comelec results in at least twelve provinces and cities: Maguindanao, Shariff Kabunsuan, Tawi-Tawi, Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Kalinga, Davao del Sur, Apayao, Sulu, Sultan Kudarat, Pasig, and Occidental Mindoro.

• Compared to 2004, vote discrepancies in 2007 were lower in 25 provinces/cities including some ARMM provinces, but higher in 73 provinces/cities.

• The ten biggest net gainers from the discrepancies were former senator Ralph Recto, Senate President Manuel Villar Jr., Zubiri, Senator Francis Escudero, Senator Francis Pangilinan, former Surigao del Sur representative Prospero Pichay, former presidential chief of staff Mike Defensor, former senator Vicente Sotto III, Senator Joker Arroyo, and former Ilocos Sur governor Luis “Chavit” Singson, in that order.

* possible encoding error of vote data by Namfrel

• The biggest loser was Sultan Jamalul Kiram III, who lost votes even in his home region ARMM as well as in other provinces where his TU partymates gained votes.

• The votes for minor candidates (Ang Kapatiran, Kilusang Bagong Lipunan and Felix Cantal) were shaved nationwide.

• Among the major candidates, the other big losers were Tessie Aquino-Oreta, Cesar Montano, John Osmeña and Nikki Coseteng.