Arroyo/AFP
Carry Out Orchestrated Betrayal In May 14 Vote
By Brian McAfee
26 May, 2007
Countercurrents.org
The
Philippine May 14 elections were marred by fraud, intimidation, and
political murders by the U.S. supported Arroyo regime and military.
Reports coming out of the Philippines on the recent elections indicate
that there was a climate of fear, intimidation, and harassment before
and during the polling. In the days following the polls, left wing poll
workers began to be abducted and killed. In a report in the Bulatlat
Election Watch by Dabet Casteneda states, "Just four days after
the polls, Jubien Abrena, 25, poll watcher of Bayan Muna in Magara,
Roxas in the province of Palawan, was abducted by the Naval Intelligence
Security Group-Western Command at about 3 p.m. on May 18 near the Puerto
Princesa terminal. Three days before this incident, two other poll watchers,
Jun Bagasbas and Ramib Vallevare for the party-list group, Kapataan,
were abducted by soldiers on May 15 and were found dead the next day."
Election observers throughout
the country reported cases of a military presence in and around polling
places, in some cases warning people not to vote for left wing candidates.
Foreign election observers from the People's International Observers
Mission (IOM) who were present at 10 poll locations stated that, from
what they observed, there was a "Military take over of the
polls." Elizabeth Hendrickson, an IOM observer in Cebu City and
nearby town said- "In all of the locations of the IOM teams, militarization
was prevalent."
For most of the Arroyo presidency,
U.S. Special Forces have been training the Armed Forces of the Phillipines
(AFP) through the International Military Education and Training program
(IMET). Throughout the period of violence that has spanned the Arroyo
presidency from 2001 through her second election in 2004 (also rampant
with fraud allegations), to the present, Arroyo and
the AFP have been linked to civilian killings. The ongoing killing ,
harassment, and electoral manipulation have all been done with the apparent
support, monetary, training, and logistical, of the U.S. In urban poor
areas of Manila the "Military systematically interfered in the
democratic process by harassing the voters and telling them who to vote
for." stated Canadian
journalist Stefan Christoff. Christoff is in the Philippines investigating
the extra-judicial killings. Since Arroyo took power in 2001 there have
been 858 civilians murdered in what appear to be government sanctioned
killings of left wing leaders and journalists. There have also been
198 disappearances.
There were special elections
scheduled for May 26 in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, and
in Lanao Del Sor, areas in the Southern Philippines.
The region has been inundated with a heavy military presence in an apparent
attempt to intimidate voters. The track record of fraud and intimidation
in the May 14 vote appears to be happening again. Final results of the
May polls will not be known until early June.
The psychological warfare
tactics used by the Arroyo/AFP regime are not indicative of a democratic
state. This and the ongoing killings and disappearances of civilians
forfeits the legitimacy of the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Administration.
A wider peoples' struggle for justice and fairness is justified.
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