Lanao, both de Sur and de Norte Provinces are the traditional lands of the Maranao (Maranaw) Tribe and their myriad of principalities, the equivalent of "Sultunates." To most non-Muslim Filipinos however the two provinces are known as being a hotbed of insurgency and violence. In fact, they are downright famous for Election Related Violence along with political dishonesty, typified by the Hello Garci scandal (in 2004 President Arroyo was audio taped during an NBI, or National Bureau of Investigation, voice recording as she made a phone call to a COMELEC Commissioner in which the two discussed padding and shaving votes). Sadly, Election Day 2010 was no different with seven communities in Lanao del Sur being declared "Failed Elections" by the national electoral authority, COMELEC. As I mentioned in an earlier entry there was a re-balloting on June 3rd but even at this late date (June 24th at posting), only one of the seven towns given a re-balloting on June 3rd have even come close to having a final tally.
On Sunday, June 20th, the son of COMELEC Commissioner Elias Yusoph , 22 year old Nuralden Yusoph, was kidnapped in Lanao del Sur's Marawi City. On his third day in town, killing time as he awaits a visa to take additional religious studies in Saudi Arabia, he was grabbed, just as he left Bato Ali Mosque at Fourth Prayer. The kidnappers of the younger Yusoph then contacted his family at 10PM with their demands. Instead of a large amount of money, the usual demand, the kidnappers instead are asking for a nullification of the voting tallies in four Lanao del Sur communities:
1) Masiu
2) Taraka
3) Malabang
4) Pikong
The NBI deployed a top investigative team from Manila to its regional office in Iligan City (Lanao del Norte Province). The four investigators arrived on Tuesday, June 22nd. The Marawi City Council of Elders under Sheikh Guru are also attempting to mediate a settlement but already the PNP (Philippine National Police) is telling the press that it is "probablly" due to "Rido" (Clan Feud). Of course noone has even wasted time asking the PNP why a Rido would involve the nullification of votes but...
The Election Season starts the spring before, when people begin testing the waters with grand proclamations to the media, and to the communities whom they hope to "serve." It really heats up when "Declarations of Candidacy" are filed at Regional COMELEC offices. In Lanao the first notable case of violence took place on October 29th, 2009, about a week before COMELEC even began accepting Declarations. On the day in question, at Marawi City Hall in Barangay Fort Bag-ong, a large group of "Flying Voters" (illegaly registered in a community not their own so as to be able to vote for a candidate who pays them) from Iligan City in the adjacent province of Lanao del Norte were lined up awaiting registration when two men casually walked over and tossed a hand grenade into the line. Three people died but only 22 year old Jeffrey Navarro from Iligan City had his name released. Twenty-one others were wounded, six critically.
The group in question had received a P100 down payment (less than 2 Euros), a snack and a jeepney (public transportation) ride to and from the city hall. If they had proven to have voted for the candidate who pays them they were to get P1,000 which is a very small amount considering some people can make P10,000 (per family). The price increases considerably as Election Day approaches.
On Election Day, Monday, May 10th, 2010 at 930AM, on Anai Pakpak Avenue, in Marawi City, three rifle grenades landed at a poll site situated at Amai Pakpak Elementary School (which is popularly known as the "Pilot School"). The nineteen clustered barangays that the school was servicing were unable to vote. Polls open at 7 AM, when possible, so the residents of those nineteen barangays had all of 2.5 hours to get their voices heard. Disenfranchisement is a huge and terrible problem in the Philippines and the problems becomes much worse the further you get from Manila.
With all the problems one faces in Mindanao, having had just since the end of November 2009, Martial Law, State of Emergency (ongoing) and State of Calamity, one might offer that Voter Disenfranchisement is a lesser problem, to say the least. For those of us well versed in insurgency however the story is much different. Lack of access to the democratic process is a driving force in illicit violence and terrorism as well (Dr. Abadi from the Kennedy School has done some great work and with regard to the Southern Philippines. Abadi served here with the US Special Forces so he has alot of insights to offer on other levels as well, but I will save that for a later entry).
Also in Marawi City on that same day, an IED (Improvised Explosive Device, as in "bomb") packed inside of a navy blue Isuzu SUV sitting 70 meters away from the polling site at Saduc Elementary School, in Barangay Saduc Proper, also in Marawi City, detonated. No casulaties reported but again, that poll site was closed as a result leading to more Voter Disenfranchisement. Car/Truckbombs, technically known as VBIEDS, or Vehicle Borne IEDs, are rare on Mindanao so that this particular detonation is especially worth noting.
Also on Election Day, at 1245PM in Barangay Parao, in the municipality of Kapai, in Lanao del Sur Povince, Kobaib Gauraki shot his cousin and political opponent Mamak Sangco to death with an M16.Gauraki is the son of mayoral candidate Kimal Gauraki and shot Sangco as he neared the polling site.
During polling at Tugaya Central Elementary School in the town of Tugaya in Lanao del Sur Province, an M16 sprayed waiting voters and wounded a 12 year old boy and 19 year old woman. Both were brought to Amai Pakpak Provincial Hospital in Marawi City. Sadly,the woman, Asila Panda, died on the operating table at 4PM that day, May 10, 2010.
The June 3rd re-balloting was free of notable violence but not of underhanded dealing. PNP, or the Philippine National Police from PRO-13, or Police Regional Office for Region #13, also known as PRO-Caraga (Region 13, in Northeast Mindanao is also known as Caraga) as well as PNP trainees from throughout the island were deployed as extra security in the 7 affected towns. To avoid the lack of BEIs (Board of Election Inspectors, the personnel who manually verify tallies and supervise the overall process, almost always performed by public school teachers who are compelled by law to do this for a very nominal fee), which is what caused six of the seven towns to fail on May 10th had COMELEC attorneys who were used instead of the usual local public school teachers. The PNP, via individual officers speaking unofficially, reports open cheating including offers of up to P300,000 (US6,500) for selling the remaining empty ballots. That amounts to roughly 1.5 years salary for a PO2, a medium level officer). To give one an even better idea, that is nearly two years salary for the public school teachers who usually fufill that role.
Finally, on July 2nd, 2010 the kidnappers of Nuralden Yusoph changed their demands and added P25 Million to their previous demand for nullification of votes in four Lanao del Sur municipalities. Shortly after that new demand the Kidnap Crisis Team launched a raid on a three story building in Marawi City, searching for the young man only to come away empty handed.
On July 19th, 2010 at 510PM in Barangay Carmen in Cagayan del Oro City, in the neighbouring province of Misamis Occidental, COMELEC Commissioner Yusoph's son Nuralden was finally released in good health. Officials are saying that the kidnappers delivered the young man by automobile from the location in Lanao del Sur where he was being secuestered. Hampered by heavy Monsoon rains that happened a bit later than planned, the authorities were unable to capture the automobile or its other occupants...COUGH.
Less than an hour after Yusoph was dropped off near the intersections of Macanhan and Masterson, the newly elected governor of Lanao del Sur made a televised appearance to applaud his own initiatives.This despite travelling time taking approximately 2.5 hours during dry season. The jist? Some have remarked that the "release" of the young man was entirely staged, as opposed to "stage managed," and that the governor might have had a connection to the incident.
Needless to say this is an extremely serious charge but as of late many serious accusations have been flying back and forth.
Nuralden himself remarked on how happy he was to be free, and that several times during his ordeal he was convinced that he would never see his 3 month old son again. The happy young man also said that he had been kept blindfolded the entire time and fed merely a single meal per day (nobody thought to inform him, at the press conference, that a single meal a day is just about what 90% of Mindanao gets to eat, and some get less than that. He also told the media that he had been threatened with imminent execution at least nine times during his captivity.
The leader of the group who had kidnapped and held Nuralden Yusoph was a Muslim paramilitary leader by the name of Dimaporo "Kumander Delta" Dimasacal, who happens to be the 1st cousin to ex-Congresswoman Bai Faiza Biston Maniri Dumarpa, whose husband Salic Dumarpa just ran for his wife's former Congressional seat, the 1st District of Lanao del Sur. Salic Dumarpa lost that race to Hussein Pangandaman, son of ex-DAR (Department of Agricultural Reform) Secretary Nasser Pangandaman by a margin of 3,401 votes.
The reason why this information is relevant is because it is now generally believed that Commissioner Yusoph was paid a series of bribes by candidates in Lanao del Sur. Some, like Salic Dumarpa, are less than happy about their having lost (some, unlike in Dumarpa's case, "massively lost") and are in the process of exacting refunds, money Yusoph reportedly has lost or is otherwise refusing to surrender. It turns out, according to "observers," that Salic was simply outbid by Hussein Pangandaman who paid Yusoph a much larger sum, ensuring his win in the Election.
In a recent edition of an online botique journal dedicated to armed conflict (NOT mine), Brigadier General Rey Ardo of the AFP's 103rd Brigade, which is Headquartered in Marawi City and has Operational Control (OPCON) of the entire Lanao del Sur Province, has added fuel to the flames of suggestion by openly declaring that the kidnapping was payback for people who bribed Commissioner Yusoph and then lost. Commissioner Yusoph is understandably livid and has threatened the General with civil action. Not suprisingly the general then went on the defencive denying that he had ever made those comments.
Prior to his appointment to COMELEC Elias Yusoph was a government Prosecutor for 32 years, most of which he spent working in Marawi City.
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