ARMM polls peaceful

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao — At least 65 percent of 1.3 million registered voters went to the polls yesterday to elect a new governor and other officials of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Commission on Elections (Comelec) and police and military officials said polling stations in the ARMM provinces of Maguindanao, Sulu, Lanao del Sur, Tawi-Tawi and Basilan and the city of Marawi opened and closed as scheduled with no major outbreak of violence.

"Now that Misuari is out, people are free to go to the polling places," said military Southern Command chief Lt. Gen. Roy Cimatu, referring to renegade ARMM Gov. Nur Misuari who led a brief uprising last week but is now languishing in a Malaysian jail.

At Malacañang, President Arroyo expressed relief that minimal violence occurred in yesterday’s elections, with isolated incidents reported in three far-flung barangays in Maguindanao.

Presidential Spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao told reporters the Arroyo admi-nistration has fulfilled the last phase of the government’s 1996 peace agreement with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

The process would choose an ARMM governor, a vice governor and three district representatives for each of the eight legislative districts of the 24-seat regional assembly for the impoverished and rebel-torn region.

However, Comelec Commissioner Luzviminda Tancangco said the voting was suspended in large parts of Jolo because of last week’s violence when followers of the 60-year-old Misuari attacked a military camp last Nov. 19.

Shortly before voting started yesterday, Tancangco said in radio interviews that the Comelec had ordered the elections postponed in some parts of Sulu.

On the other hand, Helen Aguila-Flores, Comelec director for Western Mindanao, said the resolution which ordered the elections suspended was unnumbered and not promulgated, although it bore the signatures of Tancangco and Commissioners Rufino Javier, Ralph Lantion and Mehol Sadain.

"It is highly irregular because the resolution is unnumbered and not promulgated," she said. "A resolution without promulgation is not legal and binding."

Comelec Chairman Alfredo Benipayo said Tancangco’s group had not consulted him on the move to postpone the elections in Jolo and the rest of Sulu.

In Lanao del Sur, no elections were held in Lumbatan town after the municipal treasurer abandoned his post, according to Comelec Commissioner Resurreccion Borra.

Marine Col. Francisco Gudano, Southern Command deputy operations chief, said Lumbatan municipal treasurer Gasanara Bat has been reported missing with some election paraphernalia.

It was not known whether Bat was snatched or had gone into hiding, he added.

Two bands of Misuari partisans reportedly attacked two Army detachments in different parts of Barangay Mataya in Buldon, Maguindanao two hours before polling stations opened.

Brig. Gen. Roy Kyamko, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said troops stationed in nearby Barangay Kabayuan returned fire and were able to wound a number of Misuari’s followers.

"It was fortunate that none of our combatants were wounded or killed in the ensuing firefight," he said.

Kyamko said the attackers fled, leaving behind ammunition and communications equipment when Army reinforcements started arriving at the scene.

The vote-rich town of Shariff Aguak, also in Maguindanao, was said to have been shelled with mortar fire by another group of MNLF guerrillas loyal to Misuari, and a powerful blast rocked a polling station in Parang, Maguindanao just after midnight Sunday.

ARMM police director Chief Superintendent Acmad Omar said there were no reports of casualties in Parang but that the explosion damaged the Miramar Elementary School.

"But generally, not any of these incidents disrupted the elections in Maguindanao," he said.

Polling was suspended in certain villages amid allegations of cheating. Results are scheduled to be tallied overnight.

Ibrahim Paglas, an independent candidate for governor, accused the government of stuffing ballot boxes with fraudulent votes for his government-backed rival Parouk Hussin.

"The stakes here are different from an ordinary election," said Eduardo Ermita, a senior adviser to Mrs. Arroyo.

He said the international community, particularly the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Conference, was monitoring the process.

They want to ensure that Manila adhered to its "commitment" to give a political voice to the marginalized 3.5 million strong Muslims in this largely Roman Catholic southeast Asian archipelago of 78 million people, he added. — With reports from Lino de la Cruz, Roel Pareño, Marichu Villanueva