Abalos vows to resolve mayoral poll mess in South Upi

COTABATO CITY — Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr. has assured residents of South Upi, Maguindanao that he will personally address the controversy caused by the questionable separate proclamations of three candidates as "winners" in the May 10 mayoral race.

Abalos, in a telephone interview with Catholic radio station dxMS here, said the commission, in fact, has started looking into the criminal and administrative liabilities of South Upi election officer Heidi Mamalinta for her multiple proclamations.

"I advised her to seek the assistance of a lawyer to help her in the course of our investigation," Abalos said.

Invoking the government’s mandate to protect their culture and traditions, Tiruray leaders in South Upi earlier appealed to the Comelec to hastily resolve the mayoral mess.

Besides South Upi, the Comelec also has to contend with "double proclamations" in the towns of Talitay, Kabantalan and Matanog, all in Maguindanao, and in Columbio, Sultan Kudarat.

"We are determining why there were double proclamations there and what caused them," said Comelec Commissioner Resurreccion Borra.

South Upi, a hinterland town in the second district of Maguindanao, was created in the late 1970s to allow Tirurays to run their self-governing tribal community.

Oblate missionary King Tabuada, a key official of the National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) in Maguindanao, said the South Upi townsfolk are now restive, anxious about how the Comelec central office would address the political controversy.

The tension in South Upi stemmed from Mamalinta’s separate proclamations two weeks ago of Antonio Gunsi and re-electionist Mayor Israel Sinsuat as "winners" in the town’s May 10 mayoral race. Sinsuat ranked only third in the tally.

The trouble worsened when the town’s third mayoralty bet, Jovito Martin, announced that he, too, was also proclaimed "mayor-elect" despite his being second only in the tally.

Namfrel national chairman Jose Concepcion told dxMS last Thursday that Abalos has given assurance he would see to it that the proclamations of the three mayoral candidates would be voided to pave the way for the recanvassing of the local election returns and, subsequently, the proclamation of the real winner.

"I was also told by Chairman Abalos that he is not convinced by the explanations of his subordinate election officer in South Upi as to why there were multiple proclamations there," he said.

Concepcion said Abalos has ordered the filing of criminal and administrative charges against Mamalinta.

"While we understand that the Comelec central office is preoccupied with the canvassing of election results for national positions, it must not forget that we Tirurays are also part and parcel of the community covered the commission," a public elementary school principal in South Upi said.

Another Tiruray leader, who requested anonymity, said "opportunists" have started taking advantage of the uncertainty in their town.

He said a relative of a vice mayoralty bet has asked the candidates to shell out P50,000 each as supposed "earnest money" for Abalos to expedite the voiding of Mamalinta’s questionable proclamations.

Malu Manar, a hard-hitting commentator of the Oblates-owned Notre Dame Broadcasting Corp., cautioned South Upi candidates not to give in to these opportunists’ moves. — With Jose Aravilla