JOLO ISLAND, 12 May 2004 — It was a chaotic scene yesterday inside the tightly guarded Catholic-run Notre Dame University in the southern island of Jolo, where poll officials began counting local results of general elections amid reports of massive cheating.
Ballots were scattered in the over-crowded compound inside the school as officials began the counting of votes before dawn. Many ballot boxes were left opened and unattended on the floor, as hundreds of supporters of different politicians pushed each other to try to get initial election results.
A lawyer, who was with a group of an independent team monitoring the counting of votes, described the scene as “one hell of a chaotic place.”
“There seems to be no control. It was chaotic and confusing and there were nobody supervising the proceedings, except those who are holding the ballot boxes. They count and tally the votes, but the procedure was wrong. Many tally takers just wrote whatever they hear from poll officials but did not even bother to check the names if it match those in the ballots,” the lawyer, who asked not to be named, told local reporters.
Noontime, troops guarding the Notre Dame ordered election watchers out of the university. They also prevented civilians from witnessing the public counting of ballots for a still unknown reason.
Initial election results in Jolo showed President Gloria Arroyo leading over her closest rival, movie star Fernando Poe Jr.
In Maimbung town, poll clerks and election watchers were seen writing names of Arroyo and some of her local candidates, among them gubernatorial bet Ben Loong, whose elder brother Tupay, is one of the president’s adviser and candidate for mayor Najiv Maldiza.
Civilians, appointed to help election officials assist voters who cannot read or write, were themselves choosing the candidates. Some of them were also spotted copying names of local candidates associated with Arroyo.
Other election officials allowed minors to vote in Maimbung. Five boys, whose ages were between 9-14, were caught trying to sell their votes.
In Tongkil town, an unidentified election watcher for the administration party was seen with a gun tucked on his waist inside a polling station, despite the presence of marine soldiers.
“Elections now were so dirty and I pray to God that those who cheated be punished,” trader Hajja Nuruisa Tan told Arab News.
Hundreds of troops, backed by tanks, were deployed yesterday in Jolo to thwart any attempt by rebels to sow terror.
The military earlier said it received reports the Abu Sayyaf was plotting to disrupt the polls.
A bomb also exploded Monday and wounded marine Colonel Elmer Estopina after his jeep ran over a land mine planted on a highway in Panamao town.
No group claimed responsibility for the blast.
