In the clannish provinces of Muslim Mindanao, the Ampatuans remain the political family to beat, with close to 20 members of the clan winning various local positions in Manguindanao in last Monday’s election, based on the Commission on Elections online tally.
In contrast, the rival Mangudadatu clan managed to win only nine seats although it took Maguindanao’s top posts. Esmael Mangudadatu was reelected governor, while his brothers Zajid and Khadafeh were elected representative of the second district and representative of the regional assembly, respectively.
Another clan that won big in the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao is the Tan family of Sulu whose members captured eight seats all over the province, including governor and vice governor. Abdusakur Tan II was elected governor replacing his father Abdusakur who moved down to vice governor after serving three consecutive terms.
No change
Over the years, elections have yielded more or less the same names, but this year was supposed to be different. In July 2012, the government conducted a general registration of voters in the ARMM to purge the voters’ list which was believed padded and was a source of votes for national candidates.
Comelec managed to weed out illegitimate voters and pruned the list down from some 1.5 million voters to 1.2 million. The purge was expected to result in cleaner elections and clearer will of voters.
This year, though, Muslim Mindanao got more of the same, including poll violence, which has been the staple of previous elections in the ARMM. On election day itself, explosions, killings, shooting incidents, fistfights and firefights took place in the region.
All over ARMM, local officials continue to share filial ties, from congressional representatives down to governors, mayors and municipal councilors, creating small fiefdoms where smaller families or emerging dynasties control key posts.
The winning governors and members of Congress in ARMM are all members of the Liberal Party, which also a sizeable number of local posts.
In Maguindanao, however, most of the winning Ampatuans ran under the PDP-Laban party or the Partido ng Masang Pilipino (PMP), as did other mayors and vice-mayor. This means Mangudadatu faces local governments with divided loyalties.
Tawi-Tawi
In Tawi-Tawi, Norbert Sahali won as governor, taking over from his father Sadikul Sahali. Norbert’s sister Ruby won the post of representative of Tawi-tawi’s lone congressional district.
Elected vice governor is Tati Ahaja, who shares a surname with Sitangkai mayor Serbin Ahaja and vice mayor Tiblang Ahaja.
In Tandubas town in Tawi-tawi, the Salih family rules. Rahiema Salih is mayor, Alano Salih is vice mayor, and Chong Salih is the fourth-ranked municipal councilor.
Maguindanao
In Maguindanao, Ampatuans won the mayoralty post in five towns: Datu Hoffer Ampatuan, Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Datu Unsay, Mamasapano and Shariff Aguak. In Both Hoffer Ampatuan and Shariff Aguak, Ampatuans were also elected vice mayor.
In the Ampatuans’ hometown of Shariff Aguak, 48 candidates ran for the position of municipal councilor, 12 of them surnamed Ampatuan.
The Ampatuan clan is being held liable for the 2009 Maguindanao massacre that killed 58 people, including Mangudadatu’s wife and sister and 32 media people.
Lanao del Sur
In Lanao del Sur, two families control the top posts: the Adiongs and the Balindongs.
Mamintal Adiong was reelected governor, while his brothers Ansaruddin and Ziaur-Rahman were elected first district representatives for the House of Representatives and Regional Assembly, respectively.
Pangalian and Yasser Balindong were elected second district representatives for the House and Regional Assembly respectively, while another relative, Amir-Oden, was the top-ranked provincial board member.
In at least four towns in Lanao del Sur, the mayor and vice mayor are related.
Basilan
The same pattern emerged in Basilan, where the Hatamans and the Akbars are sharing power.
Jim Hataman-Salliman is the province’s lone representative to the House of Representatives, his brother Marwan is the top-ranked provincial board member for the second district, while another brother, Gulam, was elected mayor of Sumisip town. Another brother, Mujiv, was elected regional governor of the ARMM.
Jum Akbar, widow of the late former Basilan representative Wahab Akbar, was reelected governor. Alfiya Akbar-Fernandez won as top provincial board member for the first distrct. Another widow of Wahab, Cherrylyn was elected mayor of Isabela City.
Election-related violence
Data from the Police Regional Office Regional Election Monitoring Action Center (REMAC) show two explosions took place near voting precincts in Tawi-Tawi, but there were no casualties.
The first blast in the morning came from an improvised explosive within 50 meters of the Hussin Elementary School in Barangay Tubig Indangan, Simunul while the second one, believed to be a hand grenade exploded 25 meters from the Panglima Hapu Elementary School voting precincts of Barangay Timundon and Manuk Mangkaw, Simunol.
There were also two explosions in Marawi City and Butig in Lanao del Sur that left seven people wounded and two shooting incidents that wounded two and killed a certain Elias Mangondaya Montaner in Barangay Diamaro, Malabang.
Police also took note of flooding in Taraka which affected polling centers at the Akba Elementary School.
There were two indiscriminate firing incidents in Barangay Bobo, Piagapo while official ballots were being distributed to the Board of Election Inspectors at the town hall and and another in Barangay Ragayan in Marantao. Police said the mauling incident that transpired in Barangay Parao in Kapai was a harassment of election voters.
In Sulu, police listed five incidents- one ambush, one fire fight and three fist fights among supporters of candidates in the towns of Banguingui, Panglima Estino and Omar. Meanwhile, an ambush in the morning of May 13 at Sitio Kansiron in Barangay Tipi-tipon in Panglima Estino claimed two lives and wounded three others. Mid-morning of the elections, armed groups in Banguingui also engaged in a firefight that lasted for an hour and resulted in three casualties.
Delos Reyes told VERA Files police personnel in the town of Tongkil or Banguingui had to be pulled out and were replaced by the Philippine Marines because opposing candidates accused them (police) of taking sides.
“To defuse the tension, it was decided, it was recommended and we accepted the recommendation that the police forces there, tatanggalin,”he said.
The province of Basilan recorded seven incidents—three fistfights, two incidents of snatching of election paraphernalia in Buli-Buli, Sumisip and Langgong, Hadji Mohammad Ajul and two shooting incidents—the one in Barangay Sungkayut, Ungkaya Pukan resulting in death.
One of the three fistfights became a rumble between political supporters of candidates in front of the town hall in Barangay Lanawan in Tabuan-Lasa where the use of stones led to head injuries.
The shooting incidents in Calugusan, Lantawan happened about 300 meters from a polling center.
Maguindanao province had the highest number of incidents at 19, but there was no recorded casualty. All in all, there were seven explosions while another improvised explosive devise was also recovered. Police also recorded three cases of harassment, one commotion, one firefight and took note of three cases where three Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines- two in Buldon and one in Barira were destroyed.
All five explosions took place in Shariff Aguak where Camp Datu Akilan, the provincial police office is based. The recovered IED was also in the said town.
The two other explosions were in Datu Saudi-Ampatuan and Buluan. There were no casualties from the explosions but the firefights and shooting incidents tallied a total of five wounded.
Explosions in Maguindanao “did not stop the elections,” Delos Reyes said.
What police wanted to do was for people to be able to “exercise their right to vote” that is why several police were also trained as board of election inspectors so they can substitute those who will not be able to show up for duty.
He said it is a challenge for police to monitor ARMM provinces because of geographical location.
Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao are in central Mindanao while the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi are closer to the Zamboanga Peninsula in western Mindanao.
Police data above were only referred as “incidents” in the summary of reports per province.
From ERVIs to ERIs
An Oct. 15, 2010 a police memorandum with the subject “Redefinition of Election Related Violent Incidents (ERVIs) to Election Related Incidents (ERIs) stated that:
ERI refer to incidents which could “affect/disrupt the electoral proceedings in the area or create a form of political tension that could eventually upset the electoral process, not only in the site of the incident but also in the surrounding areas.”
“These incidents are those that occur within the electoral period. ERIs shall be classified into serious and less serious.”
Dynasties sweep polls in clannish Muslim Mindanao
================================================== ================================
influential pa gyud kaayo until now ang mga ampatuans. good luck to the said provinces for they will get stuck as long as the same clans will rule these areas.
Dynasties sweep polls in clannish Muslim Mindanao
Reply With Quote
Posting Permissions
