Comelec to hold plebiscite in Maguindanao

COTABATO CITY — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will administer a plebiscite in Maguindanao on Sept. 13 to determine if residents approve of the creation of seven new barangays and another municipality.

Lawyer Lintang Bedol, provincial election chief, said his office is now ready to conduct the plebiscite in the towns of Paglat and Barira, where three and four new barangays, respectively, will be created, and in Upi, which will be divided into two municipalities.

The new municipality, to be named Datu Blah Sinsuat, will cover nine of the 39 barangays in Upi, a hinterland town in the first district of Maguindanao.

"We do not see any problem for now in the conduct of the plebiscite in these towns," Bedol said.

Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Gov. Datu Zaldy Ampatuan and Speaker Paisalin Tago have both approved the creation of new barangays in Paglat and Barira, and the division of Upi into two towns.

Meanwhile, Ampatuan approved on Wednesday the charter of the first-ever province created by the ARMM government.

The creation of Shariff Kabungsuwan, which will be comprised of 10 towns, brings to six the number of provinces — together with one city — the geographical coverage of the autonomous region.

The ARMM, set up by virtue of Republic Act 9054, originally covered only Marawi City, Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, both in Central Mindanao, and the island-provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

Shariff Kabungsuwan was named after an Arab-Malay preacher from Johore who introduced Islam to what is now Central Mindanao during the 14th century.

Ampatuan pushed for the creation of the new province to decentralize public administration and involve more Muslim leaders in governance.

Under RA 9054, the ARMM governor, through the regional assembly, can approve the creation of new barangays, towns and provinces as long as these new local government units will not alter the areas covered by any of the region’s eight congressional districts.

Tago described the creation of Shariff Kabungsuwan as not just historic, but a "landmark" move on the part of the Regional Assembly.