Dimaporos reign over Lanao Norte

By Violeta M. Gloria/MindaNews

ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews/13 May) — It’s all Dimaporos — mother, son and daughter — who took the highest elective posts in Lanao del Norte.

Reelected governor is Mohamad Khalid Dimaporo. Representative of the first district is his mother, Imelda Q. Dimaporo, who once served as governor. Representative of the second district is Khalid’s sister Fatima Aliah.

Khalid was proclaimed winner by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Wednesday, while Aliah was declared winner around 6:45 p.m. today. Imelda was declared much earlier.

Comelec bared that Khalid, who won his second term, gathered 179,402 votes; the far second is Alijandro Batalo with 17,755 votes.

Fatima Aliah will succeed her father Abdullah, now on his third and last term, as representative of the second district.

Imelda ran and lost against Vicente “Varf” Belmonte in the 2007 elections when Iligan City was still part of the first district of Lanao del Norte, but starting this year, Iligan is now a separate district. [More at MindaNews]

Old style violence in Lanao Sur despite automated polls

RYAN ROSAURO, VIOLETA M. GLORIA, AND JULES BENITEZ
Mindanews and VERA Files

The automated election system failed to bring change to Lanao del Sur, traditional warlord and goon country of Mindanao where violence and a low voter turnout marked the May 10 elections, as they did in the past.

The police, military and election watchdog groups reported incidents of killings, explosions, abductions and gunfights between opposing camps in this province, which has traditionally been the backdrop of the worst cases of dagdag-bawas (vote padding and shaving), when counting was done manually.

But voters in seven towns did not get a taste of the new automated system because teachers failed to show up for election duty as members of the Boards of Election Inspectors amid the climate of fear.

A failure of elections was declared in the towns of Masiu, Lumba Bayabao, Lumba Caunayan, Bayang, Tuburan, Sultan Marogong, and Lumbatan because there were no teachers, and in Ganassi where there were no ballots. [More to Read at MindaNews and Vera Files]

Also posted at Yahoo! News, Malaya, Manila Times.

PPCRV: Lanao Norte polls generally peaceful

ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews/11 May) – The conduct of elections in Lanao del Norte can be considered generally peaceful despite delay in the transmission of results from 11 hinterland towns, Fr.Rey Pati-an, provincial head of the Pastoral Parish Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) said.

Pati-an gave credit to the voters for reportedly behaving well.

He also attributed the peaceful election to the separation of Iligan City as a lone district, saying politicians in Lanao Norte disdain being ruled by officials coming from the city.

He said there were hitches, however, like the threats against the Board of Election Inspectors in Kapatagan town, the attempted use of flying voters in Tangkal town and the delay in the canvassing of results. [More at MindaNews]

Also posted at Vera Files.

Lanao Sur election death toll now 6; disorderly conduct of polls noted

ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews/11 May) – Six persons have been killed in election related violence in Lanao del Sur, a poll watchdog said.

Ibrahim Salic, head of Citizens Coalition for ARMM Responsible Election (Citizen’s CARE) reported that three were killed in an encounter Monday between armed men and soldiers in Kapai.

Salic said the casualties were a police officer, one of the armed men and a certain Salem Sarip who was caught in the crossfire.

Also on Monday, Bolke Panda, 12, died when an M70 grenade launcher exploded in Tugaya town while Aslia Panda, 19, was hit with M17 bullets. Panda was declared dead at the Amai Pakpak Provincial Hospital.

Algamar Latiph a resident of Tugaya and member of the Muslim Youth Professionals (MYP) said he was horrified at the fact that politics could make some people in his town resort to violence.

Latip himself barely escaped death when a M79 launcher exploded. [More at MindaNews]

also posted at Vera Files.

Related story is posted at Malaya (with correction that my complete name is not Victoria M. Gloria as posted but Violeta M. Gloria:

Old-Style Violence in Lanao Sur despite automated poll

PPCRV fields 1,000 monitors in Lanao Norte

TUBOD, Lanao del Norte (MindaNews)– At least 1,000 church-based volunteers have been fielded by the provincial Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) in the coastal municipalities of Lanao del Norte to observe and document precinct-based cases in the first-ever conduct of automated national polls.

Fr. Rey Pati-an, head of the provincial Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting in Lanao del Norte, said that these trained volunteers will be roaming around precincts in coastal communities only as they had difficulties to organize persons who can be fielded in hinterland communities.

Pati-an related that so far there are no incidents reported from municipal-based councils that can be considered life-threatening except for unverified reports about flying voters brought to the hinterlands that were barred by authorities and the delay of the distribution of PCOS flash cards.

“If the poll will prove that these gadgets will malfunction, the watchers are encouraged to report cases to board of election inspectors for expedient action,” he said.

Acknowledging limitations, “volunteers are vulnerable to threats and intimidations if they are assigned in areas where they have no particular knowledge of the terrain and if they aren’t equipped to undergo electoral challenges in high-risk situation,” he said.

Besides, I am not sure if the total gun ban policy is fully enforced specially in remote barangays,” he commented. [More at MindaNews]

Heightened alert in Lanao Norte as fears of poll violence rise

Date Published: May 7, 2010

By VIOLETA M. GLORIA
MindaNews

Pantao Ragat mayor Eleanor Lantud

ILIGAN CITY.—Everyone is on heightened alert in Lanao del Norte, where a longstanding political dispute involving the warlord Dimaporo clan has come to a head in recent months.

The flashpoint is Pantao Ragat, a fifth-class town an hour and a half from here and bordering Lanao del Sur. Pantao Ragat is ruled by the husband-and-wife team of Lacson and Eleanor Lantud, whom the Dimaporos have been trying to unseat.

Pantao Ragat Mayor Eleanor Dimaporo Lantud is a first cousin of Rep. Abdullah Dimaporo and niece of Mindanao’s original warlord, the late Muhammad Ali Dimaporo.

She became mayor in 2007, replacing her husband who slid to vice mayor after serving three terms. On his mother’s side, Lacson is related to Abdullah Mangotara, a gubernatorial rival of Dimaporo in the 1990s.

Efforts to reconcile the Lantuds with the Dimaporos have proved futile, even if Eleanor is a blood relative. Their rivalry has lasted two decades, as a result of which Pantao Ragat is today the only town in Lanao not ruled by a Dimaporo ally. All 21 other towns in the province are controlled by Dimaporo’s Lakas-Kampi-CMD partymates. The Lantuds are affiliated with the Liberal Party.

Last March, an armed group identified with a rival mayoral candidate went to Pantao Ragat to meet with another group that has a standing political rido (feud) with the Lantud family.

Continue at Vera Files.

Also posted in MindaNews, Newsbreak, Manila Times, Iligan city, Malaya, Dateline, AllVoices, PositiveUniverse as well as in the blog of Ellen Tordesillas

Stop verbal violence, mudslinging in campaign, Iligan pols told

ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews/29 April) — A network of non-governmental organizations here has appealed to local politicians to refrain from verbal violence and mudslinging in their campaign.

The Civil Society Organization-Forum for Peace Inc.(CSOFP) instead called on candidates to focus on their development and social services plans.

CSOFP head Janina Bernardo said they are tired of the outbursts of local candidates in “using the airwaves in throwing mud [against rivals] and in exhibiting their dirty linens.

All political groups of the city have programs in local radio stations to promote their candidacies, programs, and also in attacking one another.

Recently, one political group unearthed alleged corruption issues on major projects, another talked on omission of public duties and yet another capitalized on issues regarding previous bombing incidents in Iligan to discredit incumbent officials.

[More at MindaNews]

Also Posted in Iligan City.

Iligan’s candidates: new and old faces

ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews/25 April) — The city’s contenders in the May 10 polls are a mixture of old and new faces.

Incumbent congressman Vicente Belmonte of the first district of Lanao del Norte and Iligan city ran for reelection for the newly-created lone district of Iligan city. The lone district was created through Republic Act 9724, initiated by Belmonte, separating Iligan from the province of Lanao del Norte.

Belmonte is running against lawyer Samson Dajao, an independent candidate and a prosecutor and Jose C. Pantoja (Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino), a former radio block timer who survived a shooting incident allegedly relating to post-election controversies in 2007.

Mayor Lawrence Lluch Cruz (LP) is running against his uncle Alipio V. Badelles (NP), a former three-term congressman and former mayor Franklin Quijano (PMP) who served this city for two consecutive terms.

[More at MindaNews]