Maguindanao votes to create new province

COTABATO CITY — Residents of Maguindanao’s 29 towns voted overwhelmingly in favor of the creation of the Shariff Kabunsuan province during a plebiscite held over the weekend.

Named after an Arab-Malay preacher who introduced Islam to Central Mindanao in the 14th century, Shariff Kabunsuan, whose creation was authored by the 24-seat Regional Assembly in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), will cover all of the 10 towns in the first district of Maguindanao.

Kasan Usi, a senior staffer of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Maguindanao, said that 285,372 registered voters in the province voted in favor of the split of Maguindanao into two provinces to pave the way for the setting up of Shariff Kabunsuan. Only 8,802 voters opposed the move.

Usi said those who voted for the ratification of the ARMM law which created Shariff Kabunsuan was more than 60 percent of the total registered voters in the province.

"Now we have a new province in the ARMM," Usi said, referring to Shariff Kabunsuan, the first ever province created by the region’s legislature.

The ARMM originally covered only Marawi City, Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, which are both in Central Mindanao, and the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

Under the ARMM’s charter, the Regional Assembly can create barangays, towns and provinces as long as the new set up would not alter the geographical and political territories of any of the region’s eight congressional districts.

Speaker Paisalin Tago, the political figurehead of the ARMM Assembly, said the creation of Shariff Kabunsuan is a landmark accomplishment of the region.

Tago, the ARMM governor and his father, Maguindanao Gov. Datu Andal Ampatuan, both strongly supported the creation of Shariff Kabunsuan to decentralize government services.