Maguindanao pols assure landslide win for Arroyo

SHARIFF AGUAK, Maguindanao — Local leaders are not only certain of peaceful elections in their respective towns tomorrow, but are also sure of President Arroyo’s overwhelming lead in the province.

Twenty-six of Maguindanao’s 27 town mayors took turns assuring President Arroyo during their miting de avance here yesterday, that she would win in Maguindanao because of her peace initiatives with secessionist forces and for transforming more than a dozen former guerrilla camps into "peace zones" where former rebels now live peacefully as farmers.

The 27th mayor, Vicencio Bataga of Parang town, is allied with the opposition Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP).

"President Arroyo’s victory in the province will be the first-ever landslide victory of any presidential candidate in Maguindanao, where the political opposition is virtually dead because 90 percent of local leaders belong to the Lakas-CMD," said former Justice Secretary Simeon Datumanong, chairman of the Lakas-CMD (Christian-Muslim Democrats) in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Datumanong is vying for the second district congressional seat. He is pitted against Mastor Salendab, who hails from Buluan town, a known stronghold of the Lakas-CMD.

Senior Superintendent Amerodin Hamdag, provincial police director, told reporters that a sufficient number of policemen have been fielded to strategic areas in the province to help the Army’s 6th Infantry Division and the Commission on Elections ensure peaceful elections tomorrow.

Only two municipalities — Kabuntalan and Parang, both in the first district — have been placed under tight surveillance by the Comelec due to the deep-seated animosity among politicians vying for different elective positions there.

Maj. Gen. Generoso Senga, 6th ID commander, earlier said he was convinced that elections in Maguindanao will be peaceful and orderly since more than a dozen mayors in formerly politically turbulent towns, are seeking re-election unopposed.

Even so, Senga said the 6th ID is not taking chances. He said hundreds of soldiers, backed by Simba combat vehicles, will be deployed in secluded stretches of national highways crises-crossing Maguindanao and other parts of Central Mindanao to ensure the safety of voters going to their polling precincts.

Maguindanao Gov. Datu Andal Ampatuan, provincial chairman of the Lakas-CMD, said civilian volunteer groups in all towns under his jurisdiction would help the military and police perform their security missions.