Muslims unfazed by defections

COTABATO CITY , Philippines  – The traditionally monolithic southern Muslim community is undaunted by the recent defections by members of the Lakas-Kampi-Christian, Muslim Democrats in Metro Manila and Luzon, officials said.

“No one from among the five governors and more than 100 mayors in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao has shown any sign of wanting to bolt from the party. All of them remain solid, cohesively strong under the banner of the administration party,” said the ARMM’s executive secretary, lawyer Oscar Sampulna.

The ARMM, which is composed of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Marawi City and the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, has more than a million registered voters who are known for their traditional practice of “block voting,” always in favor of candidates endorsed, as common bets, by their mayors, provincial governors and the region’s chief executive.

Sampulna said the Aug. 8, 2008 regional elections in the autonomous region, where then re-electionist Gov. Datu Zaldy Ampatuan and his running mate, Vice Gov. Ansarudin Adiong won lopsided victory, as tandem, against several contenders, was proof of the solidarity of political leaders in the area.

“Political opposition virtually does not exist in the autonomous region,” Adiong said.

Sampulna said another gauge for the unity of Lakas-Kampi-CMD members in the region was their “perfect attendance” to the Nov. 9 state of the region address (SORA) here of Ampatuan, the administration’s regional party chairman for the autonomous region.

Pledging session

“The SORA, attended by more than 3,000 people, was to become a pledging session, where political leaders in the ARMM were to pledge political allegiance to the Lakas-Kampi-CMD, but decided not to push through with it due to the presence of foreign diplomats, appointed officials of the national government and police and military generals,” Sampulna said.

The ARMM’s local government secretary, Ansarudin Adiong, said mayors and provincial governors in the region have lately been initiating dialogues among themselves to discuss the ramifications of the recent defection to other parties of members of the Lakas-Kampi-CMD in Metro Manila and Luzon.

Adiong said such development has not in anyway weakened the solidarity administration stalwarts in the autonomous region.

Physician Lampa Pandi, a re-electionist mayor in Poona, Bayabao, Lanao del Sur, said there are some “non-aligned leaders” in their province that are trying to establish a block that would support the candidacy for president of Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, but cannot expand yet due to the clannish nature of the Maranaw political community which is loyal to the administration party.

Ustadz Faried Solaiman Adas, chief of the ARMM’s Maradis Education Bureau, said while virtually all elected officials in the region are members of Lakas-Kampi-CMD, they would not “politically persecute” any ally that would bolt from the party and join another group.

“Islam advocates religious and political tolerance. It’s a matter of every individual’s choice. So far, however, not one member of Lakas-Kampi-CMD in the region wants to leave the party,” said Adas, who has jurisdiction over more than 700 Islamic theologians scattered in the autonomous region.