Int’l observers to watch PH elections

MANILA, Philippines – Some interested eyes will be watching some “iconic electoral battles” next week. The Compact for Peaceful Democractic Elections (COMPACT) deployed 30 international observers to document specific match-ups in the 2013 elections.

Arnold Tarrobago, COMPACT’s national coordinator, said observers from 16 different countries would be dispatched in 6 separate areas around the country for this 10-day mission. The observers come from Sweden, Denmark, USA, Japan, Australia, Germany, Spain, Burma, The Netherlands, Thailand, Afghanistan, Mongolia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. 

The 2013 International Observers Mission (IOM), unofficially dubbed the “International Team Bantay,” is made up of parliamentarians, academics, youth and student leaders, as well as respected leaders from foreign political parties, media organizations and NGOs.

Tarrobago noted, “Our 2013 international election observers have shown great interest in monitoring iconic electoral contests between those that proclaim to be on the side of reforms and those that are widely associated with traditional and patronage politics.” The observers will be grouped according to their expertise and experience in election monitoring. 

Tarrobago said the teams “specifically wanted” to observe a number of electoral battles.The election happenings they were interested in were:

1. Pampanga Gov Lilia Pineda and former Gov Ed Panlilio
2. Pampanga Rep Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and former Pampanga provincial administrator Vivian Dabu
3. Leni Robredo (the widow of the late Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo) and Nelly Villafuerte for the third district of Camarines Sur
4. Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) officer-in-charge Mujiv Hataman and Pax Mangudadatu
5. The three-way fight between Fr. Leo Casas against the Kho and Lanete clans for the governorship of Masbate

According to Tarrobago, the team was interested in learning “how these local electoral contests will play out three years into the term of President Aquino, who himself won the 2010 election under the banner of political reforms.” 

COMPACT also sent out IOMs during the 2004, 2007 and 2010 Philippine elections. The 2013 contingent will be deployed to Cagayan, Pampanga, Camarines Sur, Masbate, Cebu, and ARMM.

“Aside from iconic electoral battles, we consciously chose these areas because they had the following factors: history of election-related violence, fraud and political clans; presence of capable local civil society organizations doing election monitoring; and security and safety of the foreign election observers. In other words, these areas displayed a wide gamut of issues and conditions which we often see in Philippine elections,” Tarrobago explained. – Rappler.com