ANGELES CITY- While many people seemed to be satisfied with how last Monday’s elections went, a coalition group called Kontra Daya says otherwise.
“This 2013 elections revealed no improvement in the process. With all these so-called modern, high-tech and expensive equipment funded by taxpayers’ money, voters in the region still suffered and inconvenienced,” said Kontra Daya regional coordinator Roman Polintan.
Polintan noted that early morning last Monday, “PCOS machines malfunctioned in Angeles City, Mabalacat City and Magalang town in Pampanga, Tarlac City, Dagupan City in Pangasinan, Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija and Maria Aurora town in Aurora province.”
“Even in the afternoon, machines failed in precincts in Guagua and Magalang (Pampanga), Dagupan City. In Maria Aurora, the machine was even tinkered by an incumbent councilor,” he noted.
Polintan said that the failure of PCOS machines was coupled with defective ballots, as he cited a case in Mabalacat “where they were moist” and another case in Cabanatuan City where ballots were rejected due to their thickness.”
The group also reported that “elements of the police and military illegally stayed around voting precincts, such as in Angeles City, where two army personnel armed with high-powered rifles, and three police are inside the premises of Sto. Rosario Elementary School.”
“In Dipaculao town, Aurora, a military personnel in civilian clothes approached a precinct though he was not a registered voter. In Barangay Tambac, Dagupan City, elements of SWAT police were in the vicinity of the precincts,” he said.
“If we are to look deeper in the last elections, an orderly, honest and fraud-free elections still remain a fantasy.
The Comelec and the Aquino government should be ashamed of promising electoral reforms but disappointing the voters,” said Joseph Canlas, another Kontra Daya-CL coordinator.
Canlas also decried “massive fraud and vote-buying” and the observation that “most of the candidates belong to the rich and privileged class such as landlords and compradors.”
“In the national and local elections, we hear same names and see same faces, thus, the people remain in poverty and misery,” Canlas said.
Kontra Daya is a coalition of various groups including Makabayang Koalisyon ng Mamamayan, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, Alyansa ng mga Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luson , Central Luzon Ayta Association , Anakbayan, League of Filipino Students, Promotion of Church Peoples’ Response, College Editors Guild of the Philippines , partylists under Makabayan coalition, support groups, networks and concerned citizens.
