By ARTHA KIRA PAREDES
BANGUED, Abra.— Senior citizen Aida Bolante-Camaro was among some 200 Abrenians who rallied for peaceful elections Friday, three days before the May 10 national and local elections.
Tugging along her 12 year-old grandson, the 72-year-old volunteer catechist from La Paz town said she and representatives from her vicariate joined the prayer rally for peace initiated by the Bangued diocese because they want “the best people to reign our country, our province, our town.”
Charles Vitalis, an elementary teacher of the Divine Word College of Bangued was also among those who endured the 1:00 p.m. heat to show that Abra is “not only about killings and corruption.”
Clad in white, participants of the peace rally gathered at the St. James the Elder Cathedral Compound in Bangued and went around the capital town carrying placards that called for peaceful elections.
Father Drexel Ramos, Abra coordinator of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) said participants of the rally were from the 22 parishes in Abra’s 27 towns.
“We hope to have a clean, honest, accurate/authentic, meaningful and peaceful elections or CHAMP,” especially since Abra is known as a “hotspot” the priest said.
Although a bit “late,” Father Ramos said that at least the diocese had done something “to remind people”” of CHAMP.
Participants came from the four vicariates of the province: Holy Cross, Immaculate Conception, Our Lady of Lourdes and St. James the Elder. A vicariate is composed of clusters of parishes close to one another.
PPCRV and the National Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) also participated, as did several members of the Philippine National Police headed by provincial director Ernesto Gaab, and the Philippine Army headed by Col. Essel Soriano, commander of the 503rd Infantry Brigade that covers Abra, Benguet, Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte and La Union.
After going around the capital town, participants gathered at the town plaza for the program that included speeches from the youth and women’s sectors, PPCRV and NAMFREL as well as from the PNP, Army and church-based organization SIMBAG (Simbaan Dagiti Agkakarruba).
A mass and a prayer vigil ended the prayer rally for peace late in the afternoon.
On May 1, Bishop Leopoldo Jaucian of the Bangued diocese also released a pastoral statement to be read during Sunday masses on May 2 and 9.
Written in Ilocano, the Divine Word Bishop said voting is “a sacred right” and
CHAMP will give people the chance to this right.
“The freedom to vote is a gift from God and a right recognized by the state that needs to be respected by all especially by the candidates,” the pastoral letter read.
The bishop also said that threats and fear are rampant in the province as well as encounters that have resulted in the death of one person. He also said that may people suspect that military and army are used to ensure the win of favored candidates.
Bishop Jaucian also urged people to vote based on their conscience and not to be overcome by fear.
He also asked the Commission on Elections to “do everything they can to implement the law and help voters and be patient with them most especially that they will all be experiencing automated elections for the first time.
According to Police Regional Office-Cordillera records, there were 14 election-related violent incidents (ERVI) in Abra in 2004; 17 in 2007 and four in 2010.
The 2010 ERVI include the strafing incident at the house of mayoral candidate Lysander Baroña, incumbent vice mayor of Lacub on April 20; the alleged ambush of Bangued mayoral candidate Ryan Luna in Peñarrubia on April 11; the killing of Mario Acena, supporter of Luna in Cosili West, Bangued on April 29 and the shooting of Elmer Velasco, another Luna supported in Calot, Bangued on April 28.