Why ARMM registration ‘generally peaceful’

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) described the general voter’s registration in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) as “generally peaceful.”

Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr noted that there were isolated incidents of violence in the region, such as the death of a registrant in Lanao del Sur and the harassment of an election watchdog volunteer in Maguindanao.

Brillantes attributed this relatively peaceful registration to the passive attitude of  election officers toward “dubious” registrants, among them minors who are not yet eligible to register but who still went to registration centers.

“Probably it’s because we don’t question them, that’s why the whole registration process turn out peaceful. But in the end, we’ll remove all those illegal registrants,” he said.

The ongoing general voters’ registration in the region, which began July 9 and will end on Wednesday, July 18, is being held in 5 provinces — Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi.

Comelec earlier revealed that about 50,000 minors in ARMM have so far filled up voter registration forms. The poll body admitted that it continues to allow them to fill up forms to avoid confrontation in the registration centers and prevent further delay.

Most of the election officers assigned in ARMM came from other parts of the country, and are afraid to create commotion in the registration process.

But Brillantes clarified that election officers mark the registration forms of the “dubious” registrants. “They put markings on the forms. So when we review the records, we’ll see the notations,” he said.

The general registration in ARMM aims to clean up the region’s list of voters and weed out problems such as multiple registrants and “flying” voters. The region has gained notoriety for election violence and massive cheating. – Rappler.com

More in Rappler’s Elections 2013 Coverage: 

• Why Aquino, Villar need each other
• 900 ARMM poll hotspots to be monitored during voters registration
• LP+NP+NPC = PNoy’s politics of addition?
• LP reviewing list of 16 senatorial hopefuls
• Comelec creates new unit to monitor campaign finances
• Comelec accredits UNA as official coalition
• UNA vs LP: What’s the difference?
• Binay and the politics of firsts