Ampatuan is Lakas’ gov bet

COTABATO CITY – The national directorate of the Lakas-Muslim, Christian Democrats (Lakas-CMD) chaired by President Arroyo, has passed a resolution naming Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Gov. Datu Zaldy Ampatuan as the party’s gubernatorial bet in the region’s Aug. 11 elections.

The resolution was signed by the President; Speaker Prospero Nograles; the party’s chairman emeritus, former President Fidel Ramos; Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte, national executive vice president; and Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri.

Engineer Norie Unas, provincial administrator and chief of the Lakas-CMD’s regional secretariat, said the resolution was faxed to them by the party’s national office last Monday.

“With this resolution, it is now apparent that Gov. Ampatuan, the regional chairman of Lakas-CMD in the ARMM, will be the administration’s favored candidate for regional governor during the region’s Aug. 11 elections,” Unas told Catholic station dxMS here yesterday.

The 40-year-old Ampatuan, son of Maguindanao Gov. Datu Andal, was elected as the fifth regional governor on Aug. 8, 2005.

“He would likely seek reelection unopposed because no one would dare challenge him or test the efficiency of the Lakas-CMD’s political machinery in the ARMM, which is a known bailiwick of both the Ampatuan clan and President Arroyo,” said Shariff Kabunsuan Vice Gov. Ibrahim Ibay, who is also the acting governor pending resolution of the gubernatorial poll contest.

Unas said the resolution of the Lakas-CMD national directorate was drafted last March, but was released only the other day, already signed by the party’s ranking officials.

Last weekend, a special envoy of the Organization of Islamic Conference, Sayeed El-Masry, said in a meeting in Manila with leaders of the Moro National Liberation Front that the OIC cannot interfere with the President’s selection of her administration’s gubernatorial bet.

MNLF leaders earlier asked the OIC, through its secretary-general, Ekmelledin Isha­nuglo, to prod Malaca­ñang to choose someone from the front as its candidate.

MNLF sources quoted El-Masry as saying that the OIC cannot be involved with partisan activities in any sovereign state.