By CAROLYN O. ARGUILLAS, MindaNews and VERA Files KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – The Philippine government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front peace panels ended their three-day talks here Wednesday with a five-paragraph Joint Statement “expressing confidence in wrapping up” discussions on the transition from the present Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) to the “new autonomous political
By CAROLYN O. ARGUILLAS, MindaNews DAVAO CITY – A network of peace groups has asked the government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) peace panels to suspend the election of officials in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in May 2013 to give way to a transition government that would oversee the shift from
Last of two parts MAGUINDANAO – If the ghosts of registrations past are to be exorcised and electoral reforms are to take root in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) or the future “new autonomous political entity,” apathy must give way to active participation of the citizenry to ensure the ill practices of the past are not allowed to pass this time, Rasol Mitmug, OIC Speaker of the ARMM’s Regional Legislative Assembly (RLA) said.
By BABYLYN KANO-OMAR VERA Files BONGAO, Tawi-tawi—The general registration of voters went off to a peaceful start here, the Philippines’ southernmost province, although delays and power shortages slightly marred the event. Election paraphernalia arrived in the capital Bongao only on July 9, the first of the 10-day general voters’ registration in the Autonomous Region
By MindaNews ZAMBOANGA CITY – The head of the country’s election body has witnessed firsthand a perennial problem bugging elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). On Monday, Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chair Sixto Brillantes Jr. did not fail to notice that in the island municipality of Simunul in Tawi-Tawi people look so
By FROILAN GALLARDO, MindaNews MARAWI CITY — A multi-agency task force started a crackdown on vehicles ferrying “fictitious registrants” on Tuesday after Army soldiers intercepted 13 such vehicles in Saguiaran town in Lanao del Sur on the same day. Col. Dario Bucawit, chief of the 64th Infantry Battalion said 13 vans and jeeps filled with suspected
By CAROLYN O. ARGUILLAS, MindaNews SULTAN KUDARAT, Maguindanao – While voters in other areas in Maguindanao are complaining about the slow pace of the registration process, those in Barangay Dalumangcob are not. The pace of registration for Dalumangcob residents at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) office on the second floor of the town hall — the
By CAROLYN O. ARGUILLAS, MindaNews SHARIFF AGUAK, Maguindanao – There wasn’t a long queue at the social hall of the Kamasi Elementary School in Ampatuan town although around 20 residents from two clustered barangays lined up to receive their registration forms at the voters’ registration center (VRC) some 20 minutes before registration officially started at 8
By MindaNews ZAMBOANGA CITY – Pockets of harassment and delays marred the opening of the general re-listing of voters in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) on Monday, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said. Comelec spokesperson James Arthur B. Jimenez however said the overall registration in the region, which will run until July 18,
FOLLOWING are links to articles VERA Files had written on the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Elections in the province of Sulu. VERA Files is reposting these stories in preparation for the scheduled general registration of voters in the provinces of ARMM on July 9 to July 18, 2012. Sulu holds generally peaceful polls; fistfights replace gunfights • May 17, 2010 ZAMBOANGA