Archive - ARMM Watch

By VERA Files COTABATO CITY— Candidates for barangay elections in this city spent the last day of the campaign period engaging in partisan activity that violated the Omnibus Election Code, but no one stopped them or even called them to task for their offense.

By ARTHA KIRA PAREDES COTABATO CITY— Election officers in Maguindanao say priority and fast lanes will be set aside for persons with disabilities, senior citizens and pregnant women as part of government’s move to make polling places “accessible” on election day on Monday. But the special lanes aren’t enough, they are the first to admit,

By DEXTER CABALZA and MELISSA LUZ LOPEZ MORE than half of recorded deaths from rido or clan wars in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) since 1993 were politically motivated, according to the Regional Reconciliation and Unification Commission (RRUC).

By ARTHA KIRA PAREDES PARANG, Maguindanao—Like a priest sending his flock off to spread the word of peaceful elections, the police chief of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) on Saturday admonished policemen and women serving in Monday's barangay elections to follow the Blessed Virgin Mary’s example of making the right decision.

By ARTHA KIRA PAREDES Photo and Video by AMIEL MARK CAGAYAN COTABATO CITY— The candidates for barangay polls arrived at the same time and wore political colors and party uniforms, revealing the partisan nature of village elections.

By DANIEL ABUNALES ZAMBOANGA CITY – In tomorrow’s barangay elections, there will be 20 polling places across the country where public school teachers will work alongside private individuals as election tellers. Under an arrangement with the Commission on Elections, the Legal Network for Truthful Elections (LENTE) will be fielding citizen volunteers in 20 pre-selected polling

By MELISSA LUZ LOPEZ POLL watchdog Citizens Coalition for ARMM Electoral Reforms Inc (C-CARE) says one in every three barangays in Basilan are potential areas of concern in Monday’s elections and recommends an increase in the number of security personnel in those villages. C-CARE says unstable peace and order situations have been observed in 92

By ARTHA KIRA PAREDES COTABATO CITY— The Department of Interior and Local Government in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao is collaborating with election watchdogs and all local peace and order councils in the region to monitor the barangay elections on Monday.

By VINCE NONATO AS in previous elections, police and military personnel will serve as election tellers in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in Monday’s barangay polls, in place of teachers who have refused to render service. Teachers across the country normally serve as election tellers but fearing for their safety, many in the

Podcast by BABYLYN KANO-OMAR BONGAO, Tawi-Tawi—The Commission on Elections and local government units are recommending that 100 of the province’s 203 villages be classified as areas of immediate concern in the Oct. 28 barangay elections. Should the Department of Interior and Local Government approve this, polling precincts in these barangays should have between five and

Podcast by BABYLYN KANO-OMAR BONGAO, Tawi-Tawi—The Commission on Elections and local government units are recommending that 100 of the province’s 203 villages be classified as areas of immediate concern in the Oct. 28 barangay elections. Should the Department of Interior and Local Government approve this, polling precincts in these barangays should have between five and

Podcast by BABYLYN KANO-OMAR BONGAO, Tawi-Tawi—Barangay captains in this town said they were willing to give P10,000 from the village coffers to help defray expenses in the upcoming barangay elections, as long as the national government gives them their share of the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA).

By JONATHAN DE SANTOS THE government panel negotiating peace with Moro secessionists said the government is protecting the peace process and will apply the full force of the law against groups trying to derail it.

By CAROLYN O. ARGUILLAS, MindaNews DAVAO  CITY–The standoff  in Zamboanga City between government and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) under founding chair Nur Misuari could have ended on Day 5, Friday, September 13 if government had responded to the demands of MNLF commander Habier Malik for a ceasefire to facilitate the release of the hostages, a

Podcasts by BABYLYN KANO-OMAR BONGAO, Tawi-Tawi—The encounter between members of the Moro National Liberation Front and government troops in Zamboanga City has left Tawi-Tawi in bad shape. Airlines and shipping vessels traveling the Zambonga-Tawi-Tawi route have cancelled trips since Sept. 9 because of the standoff. The provincial government of Tawi-Tawi has had to arrange two

By YEN BLANCO DELGADO ZAMBOANGA CITY—Residents of Zamboanga City are bracing for the worst, after the standoff between the military and the Moro National Liberation Front remained unresolved by nightfall.