Son, widows of late Basilan Rep. Akbar elected to local posts

ISABELA CITY, Basilan - The city board of canvassers finally proclaimed Friday the son and widow of the late congressman Wahab Akbar in the mayoral and vice mayoral race here after a five-day delay due to technical glitches.

Proclaimed winners were Councilor Al-Qaid Akbar as mayor and his stepmother incumbent Mayor Cherrylyn Santos-Akbar as vice mayor following a closely-guarded refeeding of votes in at least five precincts affected by glitches.

Basilan Rep. Akbar died in the 2007 Batasan bombing in Quezon City.

Al-Qaid, Akbar's Syrian-schooled son with his first wife incumbent Gov. Jum Akbar, defeated vice mayor Abdulbaki Ajibon with 22,926 votes against 20,417 votes while Santos-Akbar garnered a very wide margin with 27,759 votes against her closest rival Bobby Reynera's 12,363 votes.

This city also delivered a wide-margin vote for Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte with 25,376 votes cast. Duterte, who has an unassailable lead 

The CBOC has also proclaimed 10 councilors, with three reelectionists winning council posts.

Meanwhile, the provincial board of canvassers is scheduled to proclaim Basilan Rep. Jim Salliman-Hataman as governor and outgoing Gov. Jum Akbar as the province's representative at the House of Representatives on Friday.

Jum is the mother of Al-Qaid and first wife of the late Rep. Akbar while Jim is the elder brother of re-elected Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Regional Gov. Mujiv Hataman.

Renuld Macarambon, PBOC chair and ARMM's Comelec assistant regional director, they are just waiting the completion of the transmission of election results (ERs) from the Isabela City CBOC.