I’m on a plane to Mindanao, which IMHO is the most interesting large island in the Philippines. Mindanao’s real estate is parceled up into local landlord fiefdoms (most notably the Ampatuan clan in Maguindanao), Dole banana plantations, Aussie mining companies, a large autonomous Muslim area, and insurgent controlled territory, under both the nationalist MILF and communist NPA. The combination of high stakes and ruthless players makes it no wonder that elections are contested with guns as well as money.
The local elections in the city of Davao seem like an almost stereotypical contest between different clientelist elites. The incumbent mayor, linked to anti-criminal death squads, is attempting to swap places with the current vice-mayor, who also happens to be his daughter. The opposition mayoral candidate is Prospero Nograles, who was chief of staff of the Arroyo administration. The Arroyo administration, I should add, also has their own death squads targeting activists in the area. Charming characters all around. But we will be meeting the two Bayan Muna city council candidates this afternoon. So let’s see what they say.
Bayan Muna is a vaguely-leftish opposition party founded in 1999. In 2007, the national police arrested Satur Ocampo, one of the party’s three representatives, on murder charges related to the NPA’s execution of three alleged government informers on Leyte in 1984 ... when Ocampo was being held in jail by President Marcos. After an outcry, the Supreme Court ordered Ocampo released. The Arroyo administration later admitted to fabricating the charges.
The Armed Forces have just been deployed to Davao, after a petition to Comelec by Nograles and another local politico. The official line is that this is to keep things “in order” for the election. But it’s also probably to intimidate people before the election and swing it for the administration. Can the two things be meaningfully distinguished in a place like Mindanao?
More when we land.
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