In RP, politics is so dumi; in KL, it’s sodomy!

“In the Philippines, politics is so dumi. In Malaysia, it’s sodomy!” My favorite political punster, Jess Paredes sent me this text message yesterday. This was after former Malaysian deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim was arrested anew in Kuala Lumpur on latest charges of sodomy for allegedly victimizing his male aide. The arrest came as Anwar is making a comeback after his political career in Malaysia was cut short by a previous sodomy case in 1998. As of yesterday though, Anwar was freed by Malaysian police authorities after he posted bail for his temporary liberty. Anwar vehemently denied the charges as this seems to be another political conspiracy by the administration in Malaysia out to destroy him.

Here in our country, our own Muslim brothers are also in the thick of political campaign for the upcoming Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao local elections. The ARMM, which covers Maguindanao, Shariff Kabunsuan and Lanao del Sur, the chartered cities of Marawi and Lamitan, and the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, will hold their sixth regional elections on Aug. 11.

A mock election will be held in the ARMM next week, James Jimenez, official spokesman of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) announced yesterday. He said the mock poll would involve actual voters to test the capability of the machines that will be used in the first-ever automated polls in the country. A total of 1.6 million registered voters are expected to elect one regional governor, one vice governor and 24 regional ARMM legislative assembly members.

According to Jimenez, the touch-screen technology of the Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) system is set to be used in Maguindanao while the Optical Mark Reader (OMR), which allows the computer to read marked ballots, will be employed in the rest of the region. The Comelec is set to choose between the OMR and DRE which system will be used in the May 2010 national elections after their pilot-testing in the coming ARMM elections.

For these automated elections in the ARMM, there has been intensive voters education campaign undertaken by the Comelec along with their technology partners Smartmatic-Sahi and Avante International, and citizens group led by the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV). Smartmatic-Sahi and Avante have been conducting voters education campaign in each municipality in ARMM. Through their systems, both firms vowed to change the image of the ARMM and remove its notorious tag as the “election cheating capital of the Philippines.”

Incumbent ARMM Governor Datu Zaldy Ampatuan and his Vice Governor Ansarudin Adiong are the official administration-backed candidates of President Arroyo. Aside from Ampatuan, six aspirants have filed their certificates of candidacy for ARMM governor and one of them is Alvarez Isnaji, the controversial mayor of Indanan, Sulu, now currently detained in Camp Crame. He and his son Haider were implicated for their alleged involvement in the kidnapping-for-ransom last month of ABS-CBN senior reporter Ces Oreña-Drilon, her two camera crewmen and their guide, Mindanao State University professor Octavio Dinampo. They were kidnapped while on their way to a clandestine interview with one of the most wanted Abu Sayyaf commanders, Radulan Sahiron who has a $5 million reward for his capture, dead or alive.

Although they served as negotiators and helped ensure the safe release of Drilon and her group unharmed, Isnaji and his son were subsequently found in cahoots with these Abu Sayyaf kidnap bandits. The Philippine National Police filed the charges against Isnaji and son based on their tactical interrogation of Isnaji, Haider and all other personalities, including the kidnap victims themselves.  

Prior to this kidnap-for-ransom incident, Isnaji had already sounded out to political leaders in Mindanao, all the way to Malacañang about his desire to contest the ARMM Governorship. Isnaji was, in fact, earlier endorsed by one of two dominant factions in the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) as a favored candidate for the ARMM Gubernatorial race.

While there has been no election-related violence so far in the upcoming ARMM polls, Comelec officials met with the top brass of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the PNP last Wednesday in Camp Aguinaldo. Emerging after this meeting, PNP director-general Avelino “Sonny” Razon Jr. declared that Isnaji and his son will not be allowed to leave their detention cells to campaign for the ARMM elections. However, Razon hastily added that Isnaji has all the legal mechanisms to invoke his rights if the accused Indanan mayor really wants to participate in the ARMM elections.

Although charged with a capital offense (kidnap-for-ransom), this is not a disqualification for Isnaji because the court has not convicted him yet of this crime. This is provided for under our country’s basic laws of being presumed innocent until convicted. But for now, the PNP chief maintained they have all the goods to convict Isnaji and his son.

AFP chief of staff Gen. Alexander Yano earlier announced during the AFP General’s Night of the Manila Overseas Press Club they would closely adhere to the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Comelec that was signed by former Defense Secretary Avelino “Nonong” Cruz in the “limited” role of the AFP in the conduct of elections in our country.

Yano reiterated the military would maintain its role in the area — like putting up checkpoints and to enforce the firearms ban. But even as deputized agents of the Comelec, the AFP would stay out of the polling places. With the recent kidnapping of Drilon, questions were raised at the MOPC forum on the safety of media persons in the coverage of the ARMM exercise.

When pressed if the AFP and PNP would enforce any set guidelines to ensure no similar incident would happen to members of the media, Yano quickly retorted that they would leave such guidelines for the media groups themselves to come up with. He rightly cited if the guidelines would come from them, it might be misconstrued as prior restraint and infringement of freedom of the press. At the open forum, I ribbed Yano that this would mean the “AFP is hands off from the ARMM elections.” A very stern-faced and serious AFP chief Yano failed to catch the intended pun.