Basilan voters urged to use Facebook for good politics

CAMP SK PENDATUN, Maguindanao — Local officials in Basilan on Saturday urged constituents to sustain their restraint in using Facebook for political posts to avoid causing animosity among them.

Army and police intelligence sources in the province and officials of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (PRO-BAR) told reporters Saturday netizens in Basilan are far more sober in their use of Facebook to show support for local candidates compared to those in other areas, reckless in maligning rivals of their chosen bets for local positions.

The second-termer Basilan Gov. Jim Salliman, who is seeking re-election, said Saturday members of their local Muslim and Christian religious blocs are helping maintain peace and calm among voters who differ in their choices of candidates for local positions.

“I have been urging our constituents again and again not to use Facebook in sowing political intrigues and dissension among rival politicians and their followers,” Salliman, chairperson of the Basilan provincial peace and order council, said.

A candidate for mayor of Lamitan City, the now third-termer Vice Mayor Roderick Furigay, said Saturday he and members of their slate --- from vice mayor down to aspirants for seats in the city council --- have also cautioned their supporters from using Facebook to malign their rivals.

“We don’t want hostility among rival political quarters in Lamitan City. There is peace here now and in surrounding towns as a result of our provincial government’s peace and security programs. We have to sustain that,” Furigay said.

Officials of PRO-BAR said Saturday they are grateful to local officials in Basilan for supporting the efforts of the regional police and the Commission on Elections to ensure peaceful elections in the province on May 9, 2022.

Basilan has two cities, Isabela and Lamitan, and 11 other municipalities.

The Bangsamoro region also covers Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, both in mainland Mindanao, and Sulu and Tawi-Tawi in the far south.

Tension has markedly been high in some of the 116 towns in the five Bangsamoro provinces where there is prevalence of vendetta conflicts, called “rido,” in local languages, among enemy political clans.