MILF's candidates for high positions in Central Mindanao elected

COTABATO CITY — Officials of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front expressed gratitude to residents of two Bangsamoro provinces for electing the United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP) candidates for governor and vice governor in both areas.

Ahod Balawag Ebrahim, chairman of the MILF’s central committee and president of the UBJP, and Bangsamoro Chief Minister Abdulrauf Macacua separately told reporters on Wednesday, May 14, that they are thankful to residents of Maguindanao del Sur and Maguindanao del Norte for having voted for their candidates for both positions in the two provinces.

“We are thanking the voters in these two provinces, without their votes our regional party’s candidates for those positions would not make it,” Macacua, who is chief of the MILF’s Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces, said.

Poll officials composing the Maguindanao del Sur board of election canvassers proclaimed on Tuesday afternoon, May 13, the UBJP candidates Datu Ali Omar Midtimbang and Ustadz Hisham Nando as elected governor and vice governor of the province, respectively, during a symbolic rite at the headquarters of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division in Camp Siongco in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte.

Midtimbang defeated in the Maguindanao del Sur gubernatorial race the supposedly affluent and politically powerful re-electionist Gov. Mariam Sangki Mangudadatu.

Mangudadatu’s husband, Suharto, a candidate for governor of Maguindanao del Norte, was trailing far behind in the final tally of votes garnered by a rival, Tucao Mastura of UBJP, who, along with running mate, vice gubernatorial candidate Marshall Sinsuat, both emerged victorious in the protracted contests for both positions, as declared by poll officials..

Suharto had served as governor of Sultan Kudarat in Region 12, which is close to Maguindanao del Sur, before he transferred his voter’s registration in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte and aspired, but lost in his candidacy for governor in the province during Monday's electoral exercise.

“We are thankful to the voters in Maguindanao del Sur and Maguindanao del Norte,” Ebrahim, who was chief minister of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao from 2019 to March this year, said. 

The MILF's candidate for mayor in Cotabato City, the reelectionist Mohammad Bruce Matabalao, was also proclaimed winner in the city's mayoral race by poll officials on Tuesday afternoon. 

Cotabato City is the regional capital of the Bangsamoro region, whose territory also encompasses the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi and the cities of Lamitan and Marawi. 

Matabalao, first elected mayor in 2022 under the UBJP banner, won by a wide margin against two contenders, Cotabato City Vice Mayor Johari Abu and former mayor Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi.

"It feels good to have a mayor in the capital of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao who is from our party. We are sure he will work hard to preserve and nurture the gains of the peace process between the MILF and Malacañang," Macacua, who replaced Ebrahim as BARMM's chief minister last March, said.