Poll Watchdog Geared to Thwart Failure of Elections in Bikol

Legazpi City (6 May) -- A regional team of volunteers under the Task Force Poll Watch (TFPW) is geared to thwart a failure of elections scenario from happening here in Bikol.

According to Maggie Seva, regional coordinator of TFPW, "We now have hundreds of volunteers scattered in all of the provinces of the region and they are prepared to report and take action against all kinds of electoral fraud, harassment and anomalies.  TFPW is not just going to monitor what will be happening in the coming elections on May 10 but we will also make sure that if anything wrong does happen we can report it immediately and we can take action against it."

Seva added that they favored a parallel manual count which "will be the deterrent against fraud and cheating."

"An advantage of the parallel manual count is that poll watchers already know what to look for if cheating is being done unlike in the automated one," explained Seva.

"TFPW is trying to prevent the so called OPLAN RAFAEL (Retain Arroyo through Failure of Election) with the other poll watchdogs like the PPCRV, PAGBABAGO People's Movement and Lente. We are going all out so that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo would not stay another day longer in Malacañang. We fear that aside from the military the current regime is using other groups like front party list groups of Malacanang for the implementation of the said operational plan and we have to be very vigilant," Seva concluded.