Police see peaceful elections in ARMM

CAMP S.K. PENDATUN, Shariff Kabun­suan – The police is certain of a peaceful Aug. 11 regional elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The director of the ARMM police, Chief Superintendent Joel Goltiao, and the region’s chief executive, Datu Zaldy Ampatuan, have settled amicably more than 20 clan wars involving big Moro families in the area the past months, ending long-time political animosity among the protagonists, many of them relatives of local executives and regional officials.

Superintendent Danilo Bacas, spokesman of the ARMM police, said another reason for their being optimistic of a peaceful Aug. 11 regional polls is that all of the six provincial governors and more than a hundred mayors in the region belong to the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats.

“Our regional director and Gov. Ampatuan, through the Regional Peace and Order Council, have been in close contact with all of these local executives, discussing with them peaceful solutions to existing security problems in their respective towns that may possibly affect the conduct of the forthcoming ARMM elections,” Bacas said.

Lawyer Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi, the ARMM’s solicitor-general, said all of the incumbent provincial governors and mayors in the autonomous region have expressed willingness to sign a covenant, even over the Qur’an, that they will help the Commission on Elections, the police and military administer peaceful and orderly elections in the ARMM.

“All of them support the re-election bid of Gov. Ampatuan so how can there be any quarrel among them? They will all flex their influence to make sure that the elections in their respective areas will be peaceful so as not to create any undue embarrassment for Lakas-CMD,” Guiani-Sayadi said.

Speaker Prospero Nograles, who is the national president of Lakas-CMD, issued Ampatuan last week his certificate of nomination as the party’s sole candidate for governor of the region.

The nomination of Ampatuan came just a month after national officials of Lakas-CMD, among them Quezon City Mayor Feliciano “Sonny” Belmonte Jr., Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, former President Fidel V. Ramos and President Arroyo, signed a resolution naming Ampatuan as the party’s official bet for regional governor.

Mayor Wahid Sahidulla of Tongkil, an island town in Sulu, said not a single mayor in the autonomous region will ever support a candidate for governor other than Ampatuan and his running mate, re-electionist Vice Gov. Ansarudin Adiong.