Cops cite stakeholders’ unity in peaceful Maguindanao polls

COTABATO CITY --- With cooperation and unity among local stakeholders, police said the May 14 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections in Maguindanao turned out "generally peaceful" despite minor incidents of violence, commotion, and misunderstanding.

MINDANAO EXPOSE’ also gathered positive feedbacks or assessment from the field following the conduct of the polling and had these documented in print such as those in the towns of Buldon, Datu Salibo, and Mamasapano..

Senior Superintendent Edwin Wagan, Maguindanao police provincial director, told reporters last May 15 that about 130 cops served as members of the electoral board.

"Peacefully, we hurdled the balloting with minor and manageable problems like disenfranchisement, misunderstanding," Wagan said as he thanked the stakeholders for their cooperation with the different government agencies involved in the elections.

“We could have not done enough in securing the polls without the help of the constituents of Maguindanao,” he said.

Across the province, the balloting was peaceful with 18 policemen performing as election board members in Datu Saudi Ampatuan town after teachers refused to serve due to their blood relations with some of the candidates.

An hour before the polling started in the town, a staccato of gunfires were heard in the area.

The commotion originated from a quarrel between supporters of two candidates for barangay captains at a voting precinct at the Poblacion area, police said.

Wagan said one was reported injured during the incident, adding that “the victim is a relative of a re-electionist candidate for village council member that was hit by a bullet from an unknown source during a commotion with another party of supporters."

Five explosions in different areas of the province were also reported during the election day, one of which was a grenade blast just outside the municipal hall of neighboring Datu Unsay town barely an hour before elections were to take place.

Still in Maguindanao, a blast also occurred in Barangay Dungguan, Datu Montawal around 11:30 a.m. but no one was hurt. It also failed to scare away voters in the area, police said.

In the border of Tulunan, North Cotabato and Sultan sa Barongis, Maguindanao, twin explosions were heard before noontime but the electorates continued with their voting after being assured of safety by government troops.

In Datu Paglat town, an explosion also took place in the early morning of May 14 but hurt no one.

In the entire Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), police recorded an "unprecedented generally peaceful" election, said Chief Superintendent Graciano Mijares, Police Regional Office-ARMM director.

Mijares lauded all the stakeholders, candidates, and voters for the peaceful elections in the region. (Noel Punzalan & Edwin Fernandez, PNA - Cotabato)

Buldon election

In Buldon municipality, Mayor Abolais Manalao stated that, for the first time in the history or since the creation of Buldon, the  May 14, 2018 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan polls was generally peaceful.

“I should say it was generally peaceful because no political fraud or any untoward incident happened during and after the voting and canvassing last May 14, 2018 election,” he said.

The municipality of Buldon is comprisef of 15 barangays, with four of the barangays having been declared un-opposed, namely: Minabay, Nuyo, Kabayuan, and Aratuc.

Among those 11 contested barangays , there were no  reports of engagement in any political harassment or any major incident that marred the polling, except for some minor problems in a few polling precincts. But, accordingly, it was manageable due to the presences of men in uniform who guarded the different polling centers..

The mayor also attributed the orderly election to the effect of Martial Law and the Balik Baril program of the national government.

Mayor Manalao stressed that the absence of loose firearms in the area has improved the  peace and security situation and this he said would contribute to development “as what we have seen, observed, and experienced right now.” (Anne Acosta)   

Datu Salibo town

In Datu Salibo, Maguindanao, despite some reports on minor problems particularly at Barangay Tee, Mayor Norodin Salasal said  the recent barangay and SK polls in his  municipality was generally peaceful and “no major untoward incidents reportedly happened.”

The minor incident occurring atBarangay Tee, he accounted was really a “normal scenario” in that area, but, only a minor problem “even our PNP and AFP could attest.”

“That’s why I could say, the political exercise in our municipality is generally peaceful and right after the canvassing, the election officer assigned in this town proclaimed the elected winner. And no one dared, harassed,  or  protested the proclaimed winners,” Salasal said.

The real problem now that the folks are  facing and suffering  is the flooding and not the barangay and SK polls, the mayor said. “Almost all of the 17 barangays of this municipality have submerged because of this perennial problem of ours.”

Datu Salibo is one of the eight municipalities created and approved by the Regional Legislative Assembly in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao for more than a decade now but yet has no Internal Revenue Allotment. (IRA).

But despite the odd, the mayor said “our development-oriented spirit, in spite of poor edeucational attainment, we have managed to sustain and implement whatever programs have been mandated by our national government... all these for the benefit of our people.”  

Just recently, Mayor Salasal went to Manila to lobby for project support and funding, especially on flood control.

Salasal said it is their vision to transform Datu Salibo municipality into an agricultural land and not merely submerged by water. “I want to uplift the living condition of my people through farming.” (Anne Acosta)

Mamasapano

In a similar development, the last Barangay and SK Election in Mamasapno, was also assessed as generally peaceful, Mayor Tahirudin Benzar Ampatuan said in an exclusive interview by this paper.

As early as 7:30 a.m. that day, mayor Ampatuan said the registered voters were already prepared to casts  their votes in their respective polling precincts and “it was done peacefully, without any untoward incident,” except in some polling precincts where there reported “minor” commotions.

The mayor explained that these minor commotions normally happen, especially in barangay elections.

Mamasapano has 14 barangays but only three have been contested and the rest are un-opposed.

After the canvassing, the election officer proclaimed the three newly elected barangay chairmen of the contested barangays as winners.

The mayor said the proclaimed barangay officials have expressed their commitment to work and perform their duties as mandated by the national government and implement their platforms of governments “in order to maintain peace and order in their respective barangays and the entire municipality as a whole.”

Mayor Ampatuan thanked the different stakeholders for maintaining the peace during the political exercise, citing the presence of contingencies from the Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines, especially the 40th Infantry Battalion headed by Col. Edgar Catu, and the cooperation of support government line-agencies. 

“Without them, this recent Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) polls will not turn out peacefully,” the mayor said, adding that the implementation of Martial Law is a big help in the recent political exercise. (Anne Acosta)/ MINDANAO EXPOSE’