THE commanding officer of the 18th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army in Basilan, Lieutenant Colonel Ricardo “Bong” M. Lucero, denied allegations of massive cheating in the absentee voting administered by the Commission on Elections for his troops on April 27 in Ungkaya Pukan, Basilan.
This Facebook post that has started to go viral on Wednesday, May 4, claims that the troops have finished voting: “FLASH NEWS! Massive cheating is in place by the LP (Liberal Party) 18 IB Phil Army, Basilan… humana cla og butar for absente voting… igo nalang cla nagbutang sa ilang mga thumb… wala na cla nag-shade kay ang mga balota naka-shade na daan og Mar Roxas and party.. wala raw cla mahimo kay mao raw order sa ilang batalion commander.” (The troops have done voting. All they did was affix their thumbmarks. They didn’t have to shade anymore because the ballots were already shaded with “Mar Roxas and party.”)
The same Facebook post alleges that the troops had no choice but to follow the order of their commander.
When I spoke to Lt. Col. Lucero on Wednesday, he denied the allegation, saying that, in fact, he has reminded his troops of the importance of their right to suffrage.
“I reminded my men that the right to suffrage is the only right that remains to them. As soldiers, they cannot choose where to live, they cannot choose where to be assigned.
“All their other rights have been taken from them except the right to suffrage, so they have to take advantage of the opportunity to exercise it,” he said.
Lucero said the absentee voting was administered by Mahadee A. Annawie, Election Officer of Ungkayan Pukan, with the assistance of his battalion S1.
He said that in absentee voting, the voter writes down in a ballot the names of the candidates and that no shading is being done.
He said that he was even not around at Ungkaya Pukan when the Comelec administered absentee voting to his troops as he was at the 104th Brigade in Isabela City with other military commanders for a workshop regarding the deployment of troops for the elections.
Col. Rolando Joselito Bautista, commander of the 104th Brigade in Basilan, said that “Retired General David”, a supporter of Mayor Duterte, has called and was assured that no such irregularity happened. BEEN THERE DONE THAT/JOSEPHINE CODILLA