T’boli, B’laan natives demand special elections

Koronadal City — A truck of Army soldiers and two fire trucks are expected to arrive today in T’boli, South Cotabato to ensure that violence will not erupt during the two-day protest rally to be staged by T’boli and B’laan natives.

Around 2,000 natives are expected to converge in front of the municipal hall of T’boli town to start their two-day protest rally against the proposed application of the "law of succession" in the town’s mayorship.

The rallyists, who will be wearing their customary tribal dresses, will carry placards bearing their demand for a special election. They plan to march around the town starting at around 9 a.m.

The trouble in T‘bloi started when re-elected T’boli Mayor Sarse Atam was shot dead by his own wife inside their house last month.

Atam, who ran as re-electionist mayor under the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) party, was not able to take his oath of office when he died.

South Cotabato Gov. Daisy Avance-Fuentes is reportedly proposing to apply the the law of succession, with elected vice-mayor Ernesto Manuel, also a partymate of the late Mayor Atam, succeding the position.

However, Fuentes’ proposal sparked anger among tribal chieftains and members of the tribal council of elders, who oppose the proposal for Manuel to serve as the town mayor.

T’boli is a town dominated by indigenous peoples. Around 60 percent of its estimated 60,000 residents are T’boli, B’laan and Manobo natives. The town is known for its gold resources.

Fludi Tuan, one of the organizers of today’s rally, said yesterday that they have the full support of the tribal leaders, women, youth, chieftains and members of the tribal council of elders.

"We don’t want the law of succession. We want a special election for mayor in our town," Tuan said. He described the application of the law of succession as "unconstitutional, baseless and illegal."

He stressed: "Hindi pwede ang non-T’boli native na maging mayor namin dahil hindi niya kayang unawain ang aming mga (It’s not possible for a non-T‘boli native to be our mayor because he will not understand our) beliefs, practices, traditions and customs. We hope maintindihan ito ng gobyerno natin (the government will understand this)."