Cotabato mayor wants SC to nullify BOL vote
Credit to Author: WILLIAM DEPASUPIL, TMT| Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2019 16:15:56 +0000
THE legal team of Cotabato City Mayor Cynthia Guiani Sayadi is studying all options in preparation for the filing of a petition before the Supreme Court (SC) to declare the just concluded plebiscites in Mindanao null and void.
Sayadi said her camp had documented all the violence, threats and intimidation that transpired within and outside of polling places during the casting of votes in Cotabato City for its inclusion in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) on January 21.
Speaking to The Manila Times, Sayadi showed documents that included pictures, names of personalities and her text exchanges with military officers in the provinces, among others, that will prove her claims that government and military officials, who were supposed to protect the integrity of the plebiscite, allegedly conspired with the
Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to ensure the victory of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL).
“They are all fully documented and we will present them at the proper forum at the proper time,” Sayadi said in an interview.
Speaking to reporters, Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo said Sayadi should first file a complaint.
“Precisely, you have to file a case in the appropriate administrative bodies,” Panelo said when asked if the Palace would investigate Sayadi’s claims.
“If she has evidence to back up her claim, then file the appropriate charges against whosoever she felt has violated elections laws,” he added.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines on Monday denied Sayadi’s allegations.
“This is grossly unfair to the men and women of the [Armed Forces] who dutifully performed their election duties,” said Brig. Gen. Edgard Arevalo, military spokesman, in a statement.
Arevalo said Sayadi should bring her charges to a proper forum and challenged her to “substantiate her allegations than besmirch the good reputation of the [military] through media.”
“The [Armed Forces] is and will remain professional, non-partisan and true to its mandate of protecting the people in the exercise of their political rights and in electing their leaders who will manage the affairs of the state,” Arevalo said.
‘Massive disenfranchisement’
Sayadi claimed that polling places in Cotabato City Central Pilot Elementary School, Datu Siang Elementary School, Muamad Elementary Schoold, Cotabato City Institute, Datu Usman Elementary School, Sero Elementary School and Roxas Elementary School were subjected to threats and intimidation.
She said massive disenfranchisement of registered voters in Cotabato City could have been prevented if the military and the Department of Education (DepEd) were only honest enough and matched their words with actions.
“I kept my word and they didn’t,” she said. “I believed them because they formed part of the government and I’m also a government official.”
Sayadi reiterated that she was assured by the military leadership of the 6th Infantry Division (ID) on the eve of the plebiscite that the thousands of non-voting MILF members inside Cotabato City would be asked to leave but nothing happened.
“Even the DepEd assured us that there is no problem, the teachers will serve. I am so confident. Who would not believe if government says so. I don’t listen to the
MILF because I believe that a government official should only listen to her fellow government officials,” she added.
Maj. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, commander of 6th ID, denied the allegations, saying the military would never take sides in any forms of political exercise.
He said he personally conducted rounds during the first plebiscite in Cotabato City to drive out MILF members and even regular voters who had no business in polling precincts.
Chaos in Cotabato?
Mayor Sayadi said that if Cotabato City became part of the BARMM, there would be “chaos” because the MILF “cannot control even their own people.”
“Cotabato City will be at their mercy. There will be more abuses if it becomes part of the BARMM,” she said.
Under her watch, Sayadi pointed out, Cotabato City became the most progressive city in that part of the region and ranked 14th most competitive city in the country, first in Region 12 and fourth in the entire Mindanao next to Davao City, Cagayan de Oro City and Tagum City.
It was also the second safest city in the entire country next to Ormoc City during the first and second quarter of 2018, No.1 during the third quarter but went down in ranking during the 4th quarter because of a bombing incident that Sayadi believes was perpetrated by the MILF.
“But despite the bombing incident our crime rate is still low,” Sayadi added.
On Sunday, Sayadi told The Times that the MILF, which is expected to lead the BARMM, sent 20,000 men to polling places across the city and encountered no resistance from the military.
The BOL, which is part of the 2014 peace agreement between government and the MILF, creates the BARMM, replacing the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). This new region will have wider control over its resources and political power.
Despite the strong opposition of Sayadi to the inclusion of the city in the new Bangsamoro entity, the “Yes” votes still prevailed in the January 21 plebiscite conducted to ratify BOL. In the second referendum on February 6, voters in Lanao del Norte rejected the inclusion of six towns in the BARMM, while most of the 67 villages in North Cotabato that filed petitions to join the new region voted in favor of it.
Cotabato City will be part of the new Bangsamoro core territories and will leave Region 12 (Soccsksargen). The city twice rejected joining the ARMM in plebiscites for the Organic Act of the ARMM (Republic Act 6734) in 1989, and expanded ARMM Law (Republic Act 9054) in 2001.
WITH CATHERINE S. VALENTE AND DEMPSEY REYES
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