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Log 1, Live from Maguindanao v.2

BULUAN, MAGUINDANAO–Going back seemed too abrupt. Our team of six was up all night to prep for a 7 a.m. flight.

We only got the assignment just days before. Our daily duties could only allow us so much time to pack, rest, and prepare.

As my teammates loaded our equipment to cargo, I struggled to load my hard drive with converted file video clips that would come in handy for this next big coverage.

I dozed the entire two-hour flight, and woke up to say hello again to Mindanao.

Before, now: ABS-CBN Team Maguindanao in May (above) and November (below) 2010.

Most of us return to a challenge faced time and again. My first and previous stint here–during the 2010 elections–was my breaking in to the fly away and hostile area coverage.

Others in my team have seen longer and more difficult stories here. For one, it’s his first visit to Mindanao.

The election posters are gone, and so are visual references to the province’s former powers that be–changes since we camped out the hot May afternoons at the army-stationed capitol in Shariff Aguak.

War and grace

Live from Maguindanao, Day 13
2 days before Halalan 2010

KORONADAL, SOUTH COTABATO–”More so, let us ask God to give us leaders we do NOT deserve.”

Pastor Jorem was leading the congregation in prayer. The singing had already ended and he was laying out the church’s petitions. Number one on their list: the May 10 elections.

This still is Mindanao–Koronadal or Marbel, to be exact. And this is Marbel Evangelical Fellowship, a church of 50 plus that I had the privilege of joining last Sunday.

And this is probably the farthest church I’ve attended since my years in Saudi Arabia. UP schoolmate Lance Catedral, here on vacation, brought me along.

Where I come from, in-depth prayer sessions spring up only in prayer meetings. At MEF, every Sunday involves members sharing their requests and thanks, then offering them up as one.

Welcome to one aspect of the elections forgotten in the revelry, the excitement, and the mudslinging.

Automated caution

Live from Maguindanao, Day 9
6 days before Halalan 2010

SHARIFF AGUAK, MAGUINDANAO–Sir Jorge’s crew left Koronadal long before dawn to drive with the convoy that carried the precinct count optical scan machines from Cotabato City to Maguindanao.

A police car, an army weapons carrier, three army jeeps, and three civilian vehicles surrounded the two cargo trucks that brought election equipment to the towns of Datu Salibo, Saudi Ampatuan, Datu Piang, and Datu Unsay.

The PCOS machines, ballot boxes, and generators reached the municipal halls before noon, as many others are now reaching their assigned precincts all over the Philippines.

A picture of jailed Datu Unsay mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. looks at the arrival of PCOS machines in the town. (Shot by Gani Taoatao, ABS-CBN News cameraman)

In this hotspot province, security is still the top priority, hence the military escort. Hours after, an ABS-CBN Boto Patroller reported that a blast struck the town of Paglat, near another convoy carrying PCOS machines.

Live from Maguindanao, Day 2: Guarded

KORONADAL, SOUTH COTABATO — Call it a break for us at the live team. We left Shariff Aguak last night around 8 and slept in late at the hotel here.

No immediate assignments for us in the morning. Sir Jorge and his team drove the two hours back to Maguindanao. A roommate said he looked for me while I was still asleep, checking if I wanted to come.

Apparently the election materials for the province had arrived, less than a week after the Commission on Elections celebrated the final ballot printed. As with the others, the boxes of ballot paper were piled in the provincial treasurer’s office.

Months since martial law was declared over Maguindanao, the military and police will play the dominant role in ensuring the success of the elections there.

As Sir Jorge reports, the capitol and its precious goods are surrounded by intense security. An army battalion from Isabela has set up base there.

These authorities are making plans a fortnight before the elections, and assuring us that they will not interfere in the democratic process.

Our day has not been as guarded as the ballots. I saw the inside of Koronadal’s KCC Mall for the first time. Nothing too fancy as SM, but with the necessities of any sizable department store.

Sir Jorge advised us to set up transmission for his voiceover package. No lives. It would be my first to edit using non-linear equipment–that’s via computer–on the job.

Not too bad, editing a two-minuter in 30 minutes. It could have gone faster if not for the length transferring the video files to the laptop.

Meanwhile, no advise yet where tomorrow will take us.

Live from Maguindanao, Day 1: Contrasts

SHARIFF AGUAK– Today and for the next 20-plus days, our team of eight will be known as ABS-CBN Maguindanao. Not a new regional station, but the mobile live point for Halalan 2010.

The days get progressively hotter here, much like in Manila. Only, fresh winds often blow to relief, the scenes mostly offer green fields and coconut trees and, yes, it rains.

Thatched huts dot the paved highway we travelled through yesterday from Cotabato airport to our lodgings in the next province. The monotony breaks with bigger crowds and structures at the town centers–all still very provincial.

At every kilometer a brightly-colored mosque stands out from the houses. At each town, soldiers, checkpoints, and a military camp. And all over the road hang tarps of the now in/famous names in running.

We hear no noise, except for the frequent roar of passing vehicles and the periodic Muslim call to prayer. No gunshots–at least for now.

Still, we’re not taking chances. We have to ride here two hours from Koronadal, South Cotabato when we go live, then go back for the night. Our drivers only stop over at “safe”places, often those with an army presence.

No question many eyes are on Maguindanao this May. A hotspot, it is one of the poorest in country, and plagued with vote-rigging. It is the setting of the worst election and media-related crime in our history, yet the perpetrators yet to be brought to justice.

This province is a study of the ills of our country–rich in resources, yet disparate in distribution; devout in religion, yet ailing with violence and corruption.

Where our reporter Jorge Cariño went live today is an example.

The Ampatuans are gone from the sprawling provincial capitol compound here. Familiar to the public eye after the Maguindanao massacre and martial law, soldiers from the 45th infantry battalion now man its buildings.

The wide courtyard and facilities–which I have yet to enter–testify to the power amassed by the few families that rule the province and even have towns named after them.

Half a kilometer away are the family’s mansions surrounded by high gates. Contrast these virtual palaces to those across the street from them–all huts.