Dimaporo to MILF leader: Respect Lanao del Norte ‘no’ vote

REBEL WITH A CAUSE Commander Bravo talks about the MILF’s aspirations for autonomy in this file photo. —DIVINA SUSON

TUBOD, LANAO DEL NORTE— With the results of the Feb. 6 plebiscite indicating that the six towns proposed for inclusion in the Bangsamoro region will stay with Lanao del Norte, Gov. Imelda Dimaporo has this message to a ranking leader of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) who had campaigned for the inclusion: “Respect the will of the people.’’

Dimaporo, who had led calls for a no vote, said she was willing to meet with Abdullah Macapaar, also known as Commander Bravo and the chief MILF figure in northwestern Mindanao.

“I call on Commander Bravo to respect the will of the people,” Dimaporo said in an interview after the canvassing results were announced here on Thursday.

“We have plans of helping him. We are still keeping it to ourselves, but we hope that he will accept,” said the governor, who earlier accused the MILF commander of intimidating the voters and being behind the explosions that rocked three Lanao del Norte towns on the eve of the plebiscite.

Bravo, who has about 10,000 armed followers, denied the allegations.

Dimaporo took exception to criticism that the provincial government had neglected the six Muslim-dominated hinterland towns which were proposed for inclusion in the Bangsamoro region—Pantar, Baloi, Tagoloan, Munai, Tangkal and Nunungan.

“If there are basic services that were not given to them, it should be the mayors of these towns who are answerable,” the governor said.

‘Landslide’ in N. Cotabato

In North Cotabato, final and unofficial results on Friday showed that 63 of the 67 villages in the province will become part of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

The four barangays that did not make it to the BARMM are Galidan in Tulunan town, Balatican in Pikit and Pagangan and Lower Mingading in Aleosan.

Lawyer Naguib Sinarimbo, secretary general of the United Bangsamoro Justice Party, the political party of the MILF, described the results in North Cotabato as a landslide victory for BARMM.

Also on Friday, the MILF disowned the list that recently surfaced on social media purportedly naming its 41 nominees to the Bangasamoro Transition Authority (BTA), the body that will serve as interim government in the Bangsamoro autonomous region until its first elections in 2022.

‘Not official’

In a statement posted on its website Luwaran, the MILF said the list—which included Bravo, MILF chair Murad Ebrahim, Ghazali Jaafar and Mohagher Iqbal—was “not official” and asked netizens to delete it from their social media accounts to avoid sowing confusion.

Still, the list had already drawn mixed reactions, with some online comments questioning why most of the nominees were Maguindanaon.

With the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) creating the BARMM, President Duterte is expected to name 80 appointees to the BTA.

The law states that the MILF will lead the BTA but also allows members to come from its rival, the Moro National Liberation Front.

Aside from the 80 members appointed by the President, the incumbent elected officials of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao—the political entity BARMM is set to replace—will also sit in the transition body until their terms expire at noon of June 30, 2019.

The BOL was anchored on the final peace deal signed by the government and the MILF in 2014 after four decades of conflict that have killed more than 120,000 people. —WITH A REPORT FROM SHEILA MAE DELA CRUZ, INQUIRER MINDANAO