As a poll watcher of a mayoralty opposition candidate in Daguioman, Abra province during the Philippines midterm national elections last May 14, singer and women's rights activist, Carol Bello, claimed that she allegedly received grave threats from the family of the incumbent mayor after she took photos and videos of the irregularities they committed.

Carol Bello, a singer and women’s rights activist, allegedly received grave threats on May 14 as she served as volunteer poll watcher in Daguioman, Abra province in Northern Luzon during the Philippine elections.

Bello, through a text message circulated among her friends, said former Daguioman mayor Manuel Co Kue, husband of incumbent mayor Sally Co Kue, warned that she would not leave Daguioman alive for videotaping alleged ballot tampering and vote stealing committed by the Kue camp. Bello is a poll watcher of Daguioman mayoralty opposition candidate Lyndon Basingan.

“Ako daw ay di makakalabas sa Daguioman nang buhay dahil may photo at video ako ng kalokohan ng mayor and her family [I was told I would not be able to leave Daguioman alive because I have photographs and video footage of irregularities committed by the mayor and her family],” Bello said in the text message.

With the intention to make more people aware of her situation and the alleged election fraud in Daguioman, Bello sent the text message to her close friends, which eventually also reached the media.

Taking the indirect and unpredictable route, Bello was able to arrive safe in Manila after a few days. In an interview with Isis International-Manila, she recounted what happened, saying that “The family of the incumbent mayor harassed me verbally and physically. The daughter [of the mayor] pushed me verbally out of the precinct. Then the son of the mayor harassed me physically. After threatening me that I'll be dead after the elections, he grabbed me and tried to take my video camera away from me. Prior to that, on the day before the elections, they tried to get my cellphone, which has a built-in camera, after I took a picture of the incumbent mayor talking to a COMELEC [Commission on Elections] officer inside the municipal hall where the elections paraphernalia are currently being inspected.”

“It is really hard to put trust in democracy and electoral process. I ask myself, what are we doing? We pretend that this country is democratic, that in this country people have the freedom to vote for the person they want. But elections here are just a big joke, it’s bogus. All my learnings as a human rights or women's rights advocate just don't apply. The Philippines is considered as a democratic country, signatory to many international conventions, but in the local politics, in small towns like in Abra, this does not exist—what exist there are threats and terrorism by those in power,” said Bello.

Source:
“Pinikpikan singer claims mayor threatened her” from the Philippine Daily Inquirer, posted on May 14, 2007, <http://eleksyon2007.inquirer.net/view.php?article=20070514-65838>.