KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/31 October) –  So young and so corrupt. The Interfaith Movement for Peaceful and Clean Elections (IM4PeaCE), an alliance of peoples’ organizations, NGOs, religious sects, and individuals committed to safeguard and monitor elections, including last week’s barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan polls, said the “virus” of vote-buying and vote-selling has infected the young voters. [...]

BUTUAN CITY (MindaNews/26 October) – Vote-buying dominated the conduct of Monday’s Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections in parts of the Caraga Region. Killings, massive vote-buying, intimidation and “hoarding” of voters on the eve of election day were reported in some areas of Agusan del Sur, Surigao City, Surigao del Norte, Agusan del Norte, Surigao [...]

KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/26 October) – Armed men believed to be supporters of defeated candidates in Monday’s elections burned two school buildings in a village in Pikit, North Cotabato, around 1:30 a.m. today, police reports said. Senior Insp. Elias Dandan, chief of Pikit police, said at least five classrooms of two school buildings inside the Gocotan [...]

KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/25 October) — The election registrar of Lambayong town in Sultan Kudarat has declared a failure of election in Barangay Udtong after a group of armed men attacked the school where polling took place. Chief Insp. Eugene Malilin, chief of the Lambayong police, said the voters scampered for safety upon hearing the gunshots. [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/25 October)—In addition to the usual complaints of missing names and the names of the dead appearing on the voters’ list, an election official said the new “modus operandi” of “impersonating” other voters surfaced in today’s conduct of barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections. Election officer Danilo Cullo said the scheme involves using the [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/25 October) – Election materials for Bukidnon’s two cities and 20 municipalities arrived late. Not only that, they were delivered via a commercial hauler truck carrying cosmetic products for Watson Store at SM City in Davao. A truck aide said they were only told of their additional cargo by noon of Sunday. The [...]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/25 October) — Despite delays in the delivery of election paraphernalia to the 797 clustered precincts of the city, start of voting was already 100 percent as of 12 noon today. Last to accept votes were the polling centers at the City Central Elementary School which houses the precincts of poblacion [...]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/25 October) – Voters in this city trooped early to the polling precincts to cast their votes for today’s barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections, only to find out that the official ballots and other election paraphernalia had not arrived yet, a scenario repeated in Gingoog City and in the neighboring island [...]

COTABATO CITY (MindaNews/25 October) — Vice mayor Alexander Tomawis of Barira, Maguindanao was held under restricted custody by elements of the 603rd Infantry Brigade after allegedly commandeering election paraphernalia for his town and Buldon, where his wife is the mayor. Before noon on Sunday, Army troops from the brigade had received complaints of Tomawis’ alleged [...]

KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/25 October) – Five barangays in Pikit, North Cotabato requested the holding of barangay and Sangguniang Kabataang elections at the poblacion after the reported sightings of heavily armed men in their areas, police said. Chief Insp. Jomar Alexis A. Yap, Region 12 police command spokesperson, told MindaNews over the phone that they were [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/24 Oct) — Teachers queueing for election paraphernalia from the City Treasurer’s Office here went home dismayed late Sunday afternoon upon hearing that election supplies from the Commission on Elections in Manila have not yet arrived as of 4 p.m. Sunday, with some officials fearing the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections here will [...]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/24 Oct) — The proxy war of big politicians is on as the voters troop to the city’s polling centers Monday. In the biggest barangays in the city, losing candidates in the May 2010 elections are reclaiming their barangay chairmanship against candidates supported by the city’s political kingpin. The Barangay Carmen [...]

KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/24 Oct) – A village chair and residents of a Moro-dominated village in President Roxas town in North Cotabato province have sought transfer of the venue of the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections on Monday for fear that another armed fighting might erupt due to intense political rivalries. Magaluna Ampatuan, chairman of [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/23 October) –  Relatives of the victims of the Ampatuan Massacre and their lawyer are calling on President Aquino and Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to initiate moves to speed up the process in delivering justice to the victims. “I hope I can still find justice before I die,” said Juliet Ibardo, mother [...]

KALASUNGAY, Malaybalay City (MindaNews/23 October) –  Since the start of the campaign period on October 14, Marla Belican has been giving away 11-gram sachets of toothpaste to voters. A photocopied picture of her with her name and position aspired for is taped on both sides of the pack. In a plain shirt, old pair of [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/23 October) –  The Citizens Coalition for ARMM Electoral Reforms (C-CARE) , the group that has been monitoring the conduct of the local, regional and national elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) since the ARMM elections in August 2005 will be fielding monitors in Monday’s election for barangay and Sangguniang [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/21 Oct) – Police personnel in Region 12 or Southwestern Mindanao have intensified their security operations in various parts of the region to avert any possible disruptions or the escalation of violence in the run-up to the October 25 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections. Chief Supt. Gil Meneses, Region 12 police [...]

KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/19 October) — Bickering among members and officers of a foreign-funded election watchdog in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) might prevent the group from monitoring the conduct of next Monday’s barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections, sources inside the organization said. The rift within the Coalition for ARMM Electoral Reforms (Citizens CARE) [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/19 October) - One hundred and three candidates are vying for the 46 barangay chair posts in the city which are up for grabs on Oct. 25, with 11 barangays seeing three- to four-cornered fights. Twenty-three barangays are witnessing one-on-one races while six incumbent barangay chairs are running unopposed. Based on a list shown [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/18 October) – Citing alleged plans by the New People’s Army (NPA) to disrupt the October 25 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections, the military started beefing up its presence in Columbio town in Sultan Kudarat since last week. Lt. Col. Joel Nacnac, commander of the Army’s 27th Infantry Battalion, said Monday they [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/17 October) — About 62 of 464 barangays in Bukidnon are included in the Philippine National Police’s list of critical areas for the synchronized barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections on October 25. The Bukidnon provincial police office identified 29 “critical” and 33 “less critical” barangays in eight towns and two cities. Police Senior [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/12 October) – The Police Regional Office (PRO) 12 directed all its units Tuesday to work for the immediate signing of peace covenants among barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) candidates in various parts of the region to ensure a smooth and orderly conduct of the upcoming October 25 elections in the area. [...]

LINAMON, Lanao del Norte (MindaNews/7 Oct) — An election officer of a hinterland municipality in Lanao del Norte and his two companions survived an ambush attack this morning in the neighboring municipality of Kolambugan, the military said. Injured were election officer Pangalian Peping Lumabao and his companions Timbang Batinggolo and Abdullah Caontongan when armed men [...]

COTABATO CITY (MindaNews/03 October) – The election season is heating up in the city with the burning of  a jeep of  a candidate for chair of Barangay Bagua Dos at 4:30 a.m. Saturday. Incumbent Kagawad Azgar Badruddin, No. 2 councilor in their barangay, cried “foul” when his  vehicle was set on fire while he was [...]

KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/25 Sept) – The North Cotabato Provincial Police Office has established additional outposts in strategic areas along the highway as they start today the implementation of the Comelec gun ban in preparation for the Oct. 25 synchronized Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections. The ban is from September 25 to November 10, 2010. Outposts [...]

KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/12 September) – Forty-five volunteers of a poll monitor in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) will gather for three days starting Monday in Iligan City to plan for the upcoming barangay and  Sangguniang Kabataan elections slated on October 25. The Citizens Coalition for ARMM Electoral Reforms (Citizens CARE) will plan for the Pulong Tayo and Ugnayan Tayo, two of [...]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/2 Sept) — A well-known poll-watch leader has backtracked from his previous statement that Commissioner Elias Yusoph of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) was one of the election officials who made money by issuing orders to cluster voting precincts to favored politicians in Lanao del Sur during the synchronized local and [...]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/21 July) – Feeling alluded to earlier references by Gov. Mamintal Adiong Jr. that the kidnapping of Nuraldin Yusoph, son of election commissioner Elias Yusoph, was the handiwork of losing politicians in Lanao del Sur, congressional candidate Salic Dumarpa said that such claims are unfounded and politically motivated. The first district [...]

BUTUAN CITY (MindaNews) – A new political realignment in the Caraga region is shaping up as four of the six congressmen in four provinces have joined President Benigno Aquino III’s Liberal Party as others vowed to support the new administration. Three Lakas-CMD-Kampi party solons in Surigao del Norte and Agusan del Norte, including a Surigao [...]

M09crimerate MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/09 July) – Bukidnon’s crime rate from January to June 2010 decreased by 54 percent compared to the same period last year, provincial police director Senior Supt. Nerio Bermudo said. Bermudo said 4,245 incidents were reported in the first half of 2009 but only 1,951 in the same period this year. Index [...]

ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews/03 July) – Soldiers and policemen acting on a tip yesterday raided an apartment in Marawi City in search of the  kidnapped son of Elections Commissioner Elias Yusoph but failed to find the victim, a military official said. Tipsters said Nuraldin Yusoph, the commissioner’s 22-year-old son who was abducted on the night of [...]

MARAWI CITY (MindaNews/25 June) – Nuraldin Yusoph, son of Elections Commissioner Elias Yusoph, is being held unrestrained by his kidnappers, some of whom are his relatives, somewhere in the hinterland town of Lumbayabao in Lanao del Sur, police said yesterday. Supt. Paniares Adap, Lanao del Sur police director, said police informants told them they do [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/24 June) – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will reconvene Friday the Municipal Board of Canvassers (MBOC) in Maasim town in Sarangani Province to rectify the previous errors in the town’s canvassing of votes that resulted in the proclamation of two non-winning candidates in the recent May 10 elections. Mantil Alim, Sarangani [...]

SHARIFF AGUAK, Maguindanao—In the province where the worst pre-election violence in Philippine history happened on Nov. 23, there was reason to celebrate when the worst-case scenarios on election day did not happen.

SHARIFF AGUAK, Maguindanao (MindaNews/20 June) — Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu will take his oath of office as the new governor on June 30 and deliver his inaugural address in his hometown Buluan, 40 kilometers from the provincial capitol here.

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/18 June) – If the statements of election contributions and expenses for the May 10 elections submitted to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) are to be believed, the candidates here spent less than the limit prescribed by law. Lawyer Danilo A. Cullo, first district election officer, said the statements are unbelievable, noting that [...]

ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews / June 4) – A child died from stray bullets as armed followers of politicians in Lanao del Sur shot it out with rivals in a special election marred with violence and fraud. The indiscriminate firing was only one of many cases of election-related violence and irregularities that was reported as widely [...]

Last of three parts DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/03 June) — Only one of 56 congressional districts has no proclaimed winner: the second congressional district of Lanao del Sur where a failure of elections was declared in seven towns. The rest of the representatives had been proclaimed, including those recently created: the second district of Agusan del [...]

MARAWI CITY (MindaNews/03 June) – Special elections will be held today in 215 clustered precincts in four provinces, three of them in Mindanao, which experienced failure of elections on May 10. According to Comelec Resolution 8965 promulgated May 28, 2010, the special elections will be held in two clustered precincts in Barangay Buenos Aires, Pagsanghan, [...]

2nd of three parts The 19 reelected city mayors are Dale Corvera of Cabadbaran, Dominador Jalosjos, Jr. of Dapitan, Evelyn Uy of Dipolog, Ruth de Lara Guingona of Gingoog, Lawrence Cruz of Iligan, Cherrylyn Akbar of Isabela, Aniano Antalan of the Island Garden City of Samal, Rodolfo Gantuangco of Kidapawan, Roderick Furigay of Lamitan, Fahad [...]

1st of three parts DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/01 June) — The “new” set of Mindanao’s top officials is not exactly new. Of 25 Mindanao governors, 16 are reelected, two are brothers of the outgoing governors and the rest are “recycled” or those who ran for other posts after completing, usually, a nine-year, three-term service. Of 33 [...]

KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/24 May) – Outgoing Cotabato 2nd District Rep. Bernardo Pinol Jr. is set to file administrative charges against the regional director of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in Region 12 for allegedly creating “false stories” to “cover up” the killing of his supporter on May 10. In a press conference Pinol [...]

KIDAPAWAN CITY  (MindaNews/22 May) — The lawyer and political advisers of Congresswoman-elect Nancy Catamco in North Cotabato’s second district claimed the investigation report of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) based in General Santos City on the  killing of a supporter of her political rival in the congressional race has “vindicated” her. Jun Obello, [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / May 21) – An administration mayoralty aspirant in Maasim town in Sarangani province has asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to immediately nullify the earlier proclamation of his rival due to alleged erroneous transmission of election returns from one of the polling precincts. Defeated Maasim mayoralty candidate Arturo Lawa said [...]

KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/20 May) – The personal secretary of a defeated mayoral candidate in Montawal town in Maguindanao has vehemently denied their involvement in the burning of several houses in a barangay which took place on Sunday. Abdul Karim said his employer, Datu Arkhan Matalam, son of a powerful clan in Maguindanao has no private [...]

KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/19 May) — More than a hundred villagers from a town in Montawal, Maguindanao fled to nearby Kabacan town in North Cotabato on Sunday when some 70 armed men, believed to be supporters of a defeated local candidate, burned their houses and other belongings. Ustadz Akmad Kadtig, of Barangay Bulod in Montawal, said [...]

KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/18 May) – Despite speed in counting and tabulation of election results, still, the elections on May 10 in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) were characterized by “warlordism,” says a poll monitor in the region. “Warlordism,” as defined, is the use of power, both military and civil control, over an area [...]

SHARIFF AGUAK , Maguindanao (MindaNews/16 May) – If Ismael “Dustin” Veloso Mastura, 39, had a choice, he would be happy running for vice mayor of Sultan Kudarat town. But fate would lead him to run for and win against the 68-year old warlord, Datu Andal Ampatuan, Sr. His uncle Tucao, who would have been proclaimed [...]

ZAMBOANGA CITY (MindaNews/16 May) — With two incidents of armed harassment and zero incident of armed fight, election day was generally peaceful in Sulu, according to the Commission on Elections and the Western Mindanao Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. The Provincial Joint Security Control Center (JSCC) composed of the AFP and the [...]