MANILA, Philippines — A Mindanao lawmaker and key official of the House of Representatives has decried the slow pace by which the Supreme Court (SC) is resolving the petition questioning the correction of voting centers made by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
House Deputy Speaker Munir Arbison, who represents the second district of Sulu, recalled that the Comelec recently corrected the voting centers it found to be “cumbersome and disadvantageous” to the Sulu registered voters.
He was referring to the island-barangay of Capual, with more than 3,000 registered voters in the mainland but is more than three kilometers away from their docking points.
According to Arbison, Sulu remains to be one of the few provinces where voting centers of some barangays are clustered in one voting center, resulting in some form of gerrymandering.
In Maimbung, he said more than 70 percent of the voters are assigned in only one voting center controlled by former governor Sakur Tan, which is almost the same in Lugus, Pata, Panamao and Kalinggalan Caluang.
In a statement, Arbison said Comelec’s correction was stopped by the SC based on a petition filed by former Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr., a counsel for Tan.
The House official, quoting the “private respondents” in the SC petition, also disclosed it was the Brillantes-led Comelec that “made all the erroneous and whimsical clustering based on request coming from Tan and his allies.”
Arbison said the present Comelec officials should not be barred from making the “much-needed corrections.”
In October 2018, Arbison denounced the attempt of his rivals to prevent him from filing his certificate of candidacy (COC) in Sulu by reviving a 20-year-old case of arson filed against him.
“This is political harassment pure and simple. If this is done against me, a congressman, a House deputy speaker, how much more to an ordinary citizen?” he told reporters at a news conference.
The administration lawmaker also sought an investigation, in aid of legislation, to look into the alleged abuses committed by some Sulu local officials and their cohorts in the police service.
Arbison claimed that he was prevented from filing his COC at the Comelec office in Sulu because officers from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) detailed at the poll body’s office were waiting for him to show up so they can arrest him.
“We have already filed a manifestation before the Court of Appeals (CA) and yet the PNP-CIDG seemed to have refused to honor this,” he complained, insisting that he had nothing to do with the 17 counts of alleged arson filed against him.
He said the 17 arson cases filed against him and the seven warrants for his arrest issued by the local court have in fact been stopped from being implemented by the (CA) through temporary restraining orders (TRO).
“I have nothing to do with this case. This is almost a 20-year-old case. The complainants were merely made to sign an affidavit – they executed an affidavit – despite the absence of a police report and a fire department report on the alleged fire,” Arbison said.
“Most of the complainants were already dead even before the filing of the case, or already residing in Malaysia,” Arbison said, even as he accused his political rivals in Sulu of being behind the “political persecution.”
“The judicial system in Sulu disregarded the regular court process by issuing segmented warrants of arrest. The first warrant of arrest was issued on Sept. 4, 2018 that only covers 10 counts of arson compared to the total of 17 counts,” he added.
“After the issuance of a TRO by the CA, another warrant of arrest that covers only one count of arson was issued against me, permitting the possible issuance of more for the remaining six charges,” Arbison lamented.