Comelec acting election officer Armeli Entero had told davaotoday.com about the death threat she allegedly received through a text message. She was told to get out of the canvassing area, or else she would be killed. Entero believed a candidate was behind the threat.
At about the same time the canvassing was stopped, a grenade exploded near the garage of the Metro Shuttle Bus. The timing of the explosion and the blackout that ensued lasted for three hours, causing fear and panic among residents.
In some cases, it appears that soldiers were at fault.
On Election Day, two armored personnel carriers and two military trucks rumbled through a village called Andap in New Bataan. The arrival of the troops struck fear among the residents, they said, because recent incidents involving soldiers were still fresh in their minds. (One incident involved Andap residents Auling Bugaho and Elias Mabundas, who were killed when soldiers shot them for failing to stop at a checkpoint in Purok 2, Poblacion, New Bataan. The victims, according to survivors, did not notice the “surprise checkpoint.”)
Also, several residents of the so-called Panning Area in Pantukan were unable to come down to their precincts on May 14 because of the presence of soldiers who were patrolling the mountainous mining communities. Jaime Opiala, an Anakpawis coordinator in Pantukan, said many of the miners were fearful that the soldiers would accost them for supporting Anakpawis, which is the target of the military’s McCarthyist campaign.
Soldiers were already deployed to Pantukan months before the elections. According to residents, the soldiers pitched camps inside facilities such as barangay centers, daycare centers, senior-citizens quarters, or barangay halls. They went around interrogating residents, asking them questions such as their names, their occupations, including the organizations they are affiliated witth.
Since the military arrived in Pantukan, soldiers have called town-hall meetings and gatherings where they discouraged people from voting for partylist groups Bayan Muna, Anakpawis, Gabriela, Kabataan and Suara Bangsamo, saying these groups are communist fronts .
Residents also complained that on many occasions, soldiers told people not to vote for Mayor Sarenas and a local candidate, Belen Galleto. Instead, the military campaigned for Col. Roberto Yugo, a former police chief from Tagum City who ran for mayor against Sarenas, residents said.
Galleto, who has been tagged by the military as a communist, was a candidate for councilor under Sarenas, who is affiliated with the Lakas-CMD party. Galleto had endorsed Anakpawis.
Often soldiers were present in campaign rallies. During the LAKAS-CMDs miting de avance, the military harassed the volunteers of Galleto, asking them to write their names on a logbook.
Sarenas said that he did not know the extent of the militarys activity in his town. All he knew, he said, was they they came to Pantukan for a “special operations.”
I find nothing wrong with it because I think their intention in keeping the place safe was a good thing, Sarenas said. When davaotoday.com mentioned to Sarenas reports made by the residents about how the military had behaved in the villages, he denied knowing any of these incidents.
Residents like Moanes are concerned about these incidents. How come the military could do these things” — campaigning against partylist groups and harassing residents — “when their supposed task was to ensure the security of the people during elections? she asked. (davaotoday.com
2007 Elections
