Armed backers of ousted mayor gird for hostilities

SOUTH UPI, Maguindanao - This town's ousted mayor continues to defy orders from higher authorities to peacefully yield his post and dismantle the barricade that about 1,000 of his supporters, mostly tribal folk, have put up around the municipal building they set on fire last Wednesday.

Tension remains high as supporters of the unseated mayor, Jovito Martin, armed with rifles and machetes, converge on critical areas in this hinterland town.

Martin's followers are apparently bracing for hostilities if the Department of the Interior and Local Government in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, the regional police and the military install Datu Israel Sinsuat as the new mayor.

Judge Santos Adiong, acting presiding judge of the Regional Trial Court in Cotabato City, declared Sinsuat as the rightful winner in the 1998 mayoral race, ruling that Martin's victory was marred by fraud.

The court found out, through the help of the National Bureau of Investigation, that election returns from 46 polling precincts were rigged in favor of Martin.

The court excluded these fraudulent election returns, giving Sinsuat a 907 vote-lead over Martin.

"Our units in the area are now running after the people responsible for the burning of the town hall. Our regional director (Senior Superintendent Jilhani Nani) has ordered their arrest and immediate prosecution," said Senior Superintendent Omar Ali, community relations director of the ARMM police.

Akas Derman, a tax collector here, has confessed that he and other followers of Martin burned the town hall, but claimed they did it to catch the attention of President Estrada to intervene in the mayoral controversy.

"Ginawa namin 'yan para mapansin kami ng Pangulo. Bumoto na kami noong nakaraang eleksiyon tapos mapapalitan pa ang aming desisyon (We did it to get the President's attention. We voted in the previous elections, but now our mandate would be reversed)," Derman told Catholic radio station dxMS in Cotabato City last week.

Local businessmen want the police force to flex its authority in neutralizing Martin's armed followers and installing Sinsuat.

"Mula noong sinunog ang munisipyo at nag-picket sila diyan, humina na masyado ang aming mga negosyo dahil takot mamili sa bayan ang mga tao (Since they burned the town hall and picketed there, our businesses have slowed down because people fear going to the town proper to buy goods)," said a 61-year-old grocery store owner.

A principal of a public school said parents also fear for the safety of their children.

"Some of them did not allow their children to go out for security reasons," the principal said.

Sinsuat said he will assume the mayorship today after being sworn into office by Speaker Kabelan Sema of the ARMM Regional Legislative Assembly in Cotabato City last week.

"I already have the go-signal of the ARMM government, the DILG and even the line agencies in the province and in the region," Sinsuat said.