Philippines president thanks God ‘gift of democracy’

Below is the statement of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on election day:

Pahayag ng Pangulo sa Araw ng Halalan

Sa araw na ito ay nagkaisa ang sambayanang Pilipino sa likod ng demokrasya. Ipinagmamalaki natin ang ating kasaysayan bilang malayang bansa.
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Philippines: Hundreds of disenfranchised voters in Tondo, Manila

MANILA — Every vote counts, but not every one who intended to vote today succeeded to do so.

This was the reality documented by members of the Peoples’ International Observers Mission (Peoples IOM) Manila team who received complaints of missing and deactivated names in voters’ lists today.
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Foreign observers aghast at fraud in Philippines election

MANILA — Foreign observers from the Makati team of the People’s International Observers Mission (People’s IOM) witnessed first-hand an incident of vote-buying on the eve of the elections at 10 p.m., May 13, near the intersection of United Nations Avenue and Taft Avenue, in Manila.
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Philippines: Voters urged to guard votes up to national canvassing

MANILA — At 10 am today, Anakpawis Representative and political detainee Crispin Beltran today cast his vote for Anakpawis and senatorial candidates as well as candidates for local government posts at the Commonwealth Elementary School in Manggahan.

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Foreign Observers in ComVal Wary Over Elections


Monitors. Some of the foreign observers during a briefing on Sunday. (davaotoday.com photo by Barry Ohaylan)

By Cheryll D. Fiel
davaotoday.com

DAVAO CITY — International observers who are in the southern Philippines to monitor today’s elections said Sunday that a clean, peaceful and honest elections in the country remains a pipe dream.

Gill Boehringer, a professor of history and philosophy at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, who is one of the five foreign delegates of the International Observers Mission (IOM) assigned in Southern Mindanao, said he did not have any illusions that the elections will be any better today, that “people would be on their good behavior.”

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