PHILIPPINES: SECURITY PRECAUTIONS REMAIN TIGHT IN MANILA ON EVE OF CRUCIAL LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS

Record ID: 646539

  • Title: PHILIPPINES: SECURITY PRECAUTIONS REMAIN TIGHT IN MANILA ON EVE OF CRUCIAL LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS
  • Date: 11th May 2001
  • Summary: (W3)MANILA, PHILIPPINES (MAY 13, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. WS: POLICE CHECKING BALLOT BOXES IN VOTING CENTRE 0.09 2. VARIOUS OF VOTING CENTRE/ BALLOT BOXES (2 SHOTS) 0.21 3. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Filipino) LITA NASIN, ELECTION OFFICER, SAYING: "All preparations - what we are doing now is all very secure. That is why we are very prepared for tomorrow." 0.34 4. SV/MV/SV: CARS BEING SEARCHED BY POLICE OUTSIDE VETERANS MEMORIAL MEDICAL CENTRE WHERE FORMER PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT JOSEPH (3 SHOTS)ESTRADA AND HIS SON JINGGOY ARE BEING HELD 0.58 5. CU/SV: MEDICAL CENTRE SIGN/ SECURITY AT ENTRANCE (2 SHOTS) 1.11 (W3)MANILA, PHILIPPINES (MAY 11, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 6. SV: ESTRADA'S WIFE, LUISA, ON STAGE 1.18 7. SV'S: FORMER POLICE CHIEF PANFILO LACSON ON STAGE / CROWD CHEERING (2 SHOTS) 1.33 8. SCU'S: GREGORIO "GRINGO" HONASAN ON STAGE (2 SHOTS) 1.45 9. SV: OPPOSITION CANDIDATES RAISING THEIR HANDS DURING THE MITING D' AVANCE 1.54 (W3)MANILA, PHILIPPINES (MAY 12, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 10. WIDE OF STAGE 2.01 11. PAN: "PEOPLE POWER COALITION" CANDIDATES/ PAN TO SHOW FORMER PHILIPPINE PRESIDENTS CORAZON AQUINO, FIDEL RAMOS, AND PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO HOLDING CANDLES, SINGING 2.15 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 26th May 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MANILA, PHILIPPINES
  • Country: Philippines
  • Reuters ID: LVABW5HN9NFKWK60OUB2KRUFISL8
  • Story Text: Security has been tight in many areas in the Philippine
    capital Manila on the eve of crucial legislative elections
    seen as a test of the legitimacy of President Gloria
    Macapagal Arroyo's government.


    In a major voting centre in Manila, election officials
    were making last-minute preparations while dozens of
    police checked the hundreds of ballot boxes for any signs
    of tampering.

    "All preparations - what we are doing now is all very
    secured. That is why we are very prepared for tomorrow,"
    declared Lita Nasin, an election official.

    Security was tight outside the state military hospital where
    former president Joseph Estrada is expected to cast his
    ballot.

    Estrada and his son Jinggoy, a town mayor who faces the
    same charge as his father, are detained under heavy guard in
    the hospital.

    The two were flown from a police facility outside Manila
    to a military hospital on Saturday (May 12) after both
    complained of being ill.

    At stake in the polls are 13 of 24 Senate seats, all 262
    seats in the House of Representatives and more than 17,000
    local posts from provincial governors to town mayors and
    councillors.

    Election officials expect a turnout of close to 80 percent
    among 36.5 million registered voters.

    Polls open at 7 a.m. (2300 GMT, Sunday) in over 200,000
    precincts across the archipelago of 7,000 islands.

    Arroyo, swept to the presidency by a military-backed
    "people power" revolt in January which ended Estrada's
    31-month rule, has high stakes in the elections.

    She needs not only to score clear-cut victories in the
    Senate and Lower House to control Congress and ensure passage
    of key bills, but also to ensure that the voting is honest and
    peaceful.

    While her People Power Coalition party appears set to win
    a majority in the Lower House, it faces a tougher fight in the
    Senate where it needs to win nine seats to control the
    chamber.

    Estrada is facing trial for alleged economic plunder, an
    offence which carries the penalty of death or life in jail.

    Investors are closely watching the outcome of the
    elections.

    An hour before campaigning officially ended at midnight on
    Saturday, communist rebels shot dead an administration
    congressman and a companion during a rally in Tiaong, south of
    Manila, pushing to 55 the death toll in campaign violence.

    The spate of killings in a country where political
    rivalries approach tribal fierceness has prompted the armed
    forces and the police to declare a nationwide alert.



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