Kabataan Partylist

05/26/2007 | 08:25 AM

At least three party-list groups allied with Malacañang may have benefited from some 58,000 padded votes, militant groups claimed Saturday.

Party-lists Bayan Muna, Anakpawis, Gabriela, Kabataan and Suara Bangsamoro said the alleged 58,000-vote operation took place in some parts of Mindanao.

In a statement, the groups said 22,011 votes were padded for ALIF (Ang Laban ng Indiginong Filipino) from 15 election returns out of 28 towns in Zamboanga del Sur.

“ERs from Margosatubig, Pitogo, Vicencio Sagum, Tabina, San Miguel, Simimot, Tambulig, Midsalip, Aurora, Mahaya, Dinas San Pablo, Josefina, Molave and Dumalinao showed discrepancies in the actual votes acquired and the reported number of votes in the canvassing. Votes for ALIF were padded by as high as 2,000 votes in some towns,” they said.

Kabataan party-list president Raymond Palatino said they found “very obvious discrepancies in penmanship and pen ink” while comparing certificates of votes to the statements of votes.

“This is vote-padding in its most blatant form,” Palatino said.

Task Force Poll Watch (TFPW), the party-lists’ anti-fraud watch dog, earlier reported 36,609 combined padded votes for COOP-NATCO and UNI-MAD in Sibugay Zamboanga.

Gabriela Rep. Liza Maza said these cases further reinforce their suspicion that votes for known Malacañang-backed party-lists may be padded by up to 2.7 million in the Comelec canvassing.

Maza and Palatino said that they are expecting other cases to come in from other provinces and cities in Mindanao, especially from ARMM.

The party-lists cited that Tawi-Tawi, for instance, reported an 89 percent voter turnout for party-lists.

“This is highly questionable and phenomenal,” said Palatino. He also questioned YACAP’s (Youth against Corruption and Poverty) top post in the province, beating Moro party-lists with 21,966 votes.

TFPW is also evaluating reports of vote-padding in Sulu, Sulatan Kudarat, North Cotabato, Basilan, Zamboanga City and Lanao del Norte.

Maza called on the National Board of Canvassers to defer the canvassing and correct the said COCs. - GMANews.TV

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