By Beverly T. Natividad
Inquirer
Last updated 04:37am (Mla time) 11/04/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- The appointment of a Muslim to The Commission on Elections (Comelec) may help solve some electoral problems in Mindanao but a Comelec official said the bigger brunt for solving all the problems would still lie with the poll body as a whole.

Commissioner Rene Sarmiento said yesterday the appointment of Iligan City Judge Moslemen Macarambon Sr., a Maranao, would be a big help to the Comelec, particularly in the problem areas of Mindanao.

However, he said, the solution does not lie in one man alone.

“One person cannot address all these problems. The political will of the whole commission should be there,” said Sarmiento. “Although it is good that he is there to help us because he is from Mindanao,” he added.

Sarmiento, it will be recalled, has been proposing that Congress enact a law that would mandate the holding of elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) at an earlier date than the regular elections.

The holding of elections in the ARMM has been a perennial problem of the Comelec due to its long history of having failed elections.

In his proposal, Sarmiento noted that several municipalities in the province of Lanao del Sur alone experienced a failure of elections in 1998, 2001 and 2004.

In the last midterm elections, Sarmiento was assigned as commissioner-in-charge of the ARMM and noted a repeat of a failure of elections in Lanao del Sur. The Comelec had to in the province, but also in the neighboring ARMM provinces Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, and Shariff Kabunsuan.

The failure of elections were due mostly to violent incidents involving rival candidates, and the refusal of the Board of Election Tellers (BETs) to appear and supervise the elections out of fear for their lives.

In the May elections, the Maguindanao votes were the focus of complaints between two candidates vying for the last senatorial slot. Its election supervisor, Lintang Bedol, was charged with contempt by the Comelec for the loss of election documents of the province, among other things.

In the recent synchronized barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections, more than 100 barangays had a failure of elections and most of them were once again in the ARMM region.

Under Sarmiento’s proposal, he said that holding the ARMM elections earlier than the other elections would ensure that needed human and material resources would be focused on the problematic region.

If special elections are held for ARMM, he said, the Comelec will be able to give instructions to both the military and the police to address serious armed threats in the region and even tap police trainees as BETs.

	1. Written by This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it on 09-11-2007 07:55 - Guest
	the commissioiner Is my ol' friend's I heard alot of good things about the newly appointed Commissioner in handling Court litigation and proceedings.     in fact, his appointment has affected the Court that the COMELEC's reputation. this is because based on the records judge Mcarambon, if not the most, is one of our competent judges in the ARMM and even in the entire Mindanao. the Court needs him more than the COMELEC. The Sala he left may not be served by a magistrate much competent than he was.     Here in Lanao, most of the lawyers are appreciates his performance as a judge. others are worried that his exemplar record as judge might be tainted with unfavorable criticism as he serve as a Commissioiner.     but, nevertheless, i believe in his competency. i believe he can serve well in the COMELEC.    I don't personally know the newly appointed Commisioner. But, i had the chance to work with his Son, JUNJUN, during our undergrad in our days in the streets.     MORE POWER TO THE COMMISSIOINER!!!

	2. Written by This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it on 11-11-2007 07:09 - Guest
	the commissioiner Is my ol' friend's adom,     grabi erpat ni jun no. astig. congratz to Judge Macarambon po.

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