MILF bet for Senate disqualified

DAVAO CITY – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has declared Moner Bajunaid, the candidate of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to the Senate, as among the nuisance bets, thus disqualifying him in the May 14 elections.

The Comelec has trimmed down to only 34 the qualified candidates to run for the Senate out of the 68 who filed their certificates of candidacy. The trimming was based on the capability of the candidates and their political parties to conduct a nationwide campaign.

Bajunaid, a professor on Islamic studies of the Mindanao State University in General Santos City, is the technical committee chairman of the MILF in the peace negotiations with government.

Certain quarters in Mindanao have questioned the Comelec’s decision. They insisted that aside from being qualified, Bajunaid runs under a political party, the Partido Demokratiko Socialista ng Pilipinas.

Former presidential assistant for Midanao Jesus Dureza, who was also the government’s chief peace negotiator with the MILF, was surprised with Bajunaid’s disqualification.

Dureza said he really does not have any idea what would be the basis of the Comelec for disqualifying the MILF official.

The Comelec’s decision dismayed a number of ranking MILF officials. — Edith Regalado