Statement on Mountain Province SAFE covenant signing

(The following was the statement of Jupiter Dominguez, congressional candidate for Mountain Province,  during the ceremonial signing of the  Secure and Fair Elections (SAFE) covenant  last 5 April 2013.)

Rev. Fr. Marcial Castaneda, Deputy Provincial Director Police SUPT Andres Miles Narvaez, Provincial Election Supervisor Atty. Nicasio Jacob, PPCRV coordinators Mr. Modesto Bahul and Ms. Regina Chadya-as, DILG Provincial Director Mr. Anthony Ballug, to all my fellow candidates present here in this signing ceremony, to all the uniformed men present here and to all of you who will stand as witness to this signing, good morning and I wish everyone peace of mind and heart.

Let me first thank Police Senior Superintendent William Viteno for the invitation to participate in this covenant signing. I admire the Mt. Province Provincial Police Office that he heads for their pro-active effort to remind us candidates to commit ourselves to a Secure and Fair Elections in Mt. Province.    His letter invitation strongly reminds us all when he wrote “historically, political rivalries in the province could significantly affect peaceful conduct of election”.  He was not here in the past but he has done a good job at analysing our recent political history.

While our neighbour provinces are known for their vicious stories of guns and violence that we read in the papers, we are proud that our story is of peace no matter what politics divide us. My family, the Dominguez family which has been in politics ever since I can remember, exercised our politics safe and free of violence. Mt. Province was never stained at all with violence.

                

Yet in 2010, our treasured peaceful political landscape was shaken by the dark side of ambition. We remember May 2010 with disdain. On the night of May 8, 2010 the motor vehicle owned the Iglesia Ni Cristo was burned at Poblacion, Paracelis because of their united support for their chosen candidate; on May 10, 2010, the PCOS machine at Apalis, Paracelis was hacked and burned to destroy the ballots adverse to a candidate; on May 11, 2010, three vehicles (a Hi-lux, Estrada and Pajero) loaded with at least ten people who are known to us and six assorted firearms which include among others a machine gun with live rounds of ammos, a baby armalite, a shotgun, an internamic and more that perhaps this barracks has never seen.

We also remember that soon after that, we assembled and marched in indignation at the saddest moment in our political history. And what can be sadder than knowing that leaders who pledge to protect us & keep us safe, who must uphold fairness & justice use these guns against us in naked disregard of our peaceful history. 

Those who have hatched up this plan of deploying that armed convoy in Paracelis should have thought about the negative lasting effect of their actions to our culture of peace. By the way, we pray for their two or three fall guys and their families who shall sacrifice. For once you destroy a culture, you destroy a people.  

All of us candidates have ambition. Ambition is good but should be within the bounds of what is just, of what is secure & what is fair. Let us make people secure in expressing their choices without fear, free from the psychological threat of losing their jobs, their scholarships or educational grants, their health access and their other citizen benefits. Let us play this election in fair game. Let us reject enticement of voters with money. Huwag lamang na ang kalaban sa paggamit ng pera, lalo na’ t ang pera galing sa dilim.

This covenant strikes a soft spot in my heart and my family’s because my grandfather’s father who was a leader in our old tribal society, was beheaded by a rival political tribe, his head put on a pole while people danced and feasted around—“inalan di buso” my grandmother would recount the story. His eight year old son saw it all. Now more than one hundred years after, in our post-tribal modern society, we are no longer buso and there are no longer buso. So that Paracelis terror plot should be a shock and an affront not only to me, but to everyone here who cares about having a peaceful and just election in Mt. Province.  

So let us make S-A-F-E, Secure and Fair Elections, a collective commitment, for this ceremony of speeches and covenant signing is nothing if we sign with empty hearts and only for the picture for the newspapers. I am not physically present here to protest that infamous event in Paracelis in 2010 but together with my family, friends and supporters I do sign this covenant with our hearts. In our hearts, there is a genuine desire for an election that is safe and fair to all. Let us restore our culture of peace! Thank you.”