Operations vs Abus in Sulu won't affect ARMM polls

COTABATO CITY – Officials of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) have dismissed as “too alarmist” apprehensions that security problems arising from the government’s offensives against the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu could affect the regional elections on Aug. 11.

“It’s the governor of Sulu, Hadji Sakur Tan, the chairman of the provincial peace and order council who is in the best position to say whether it is safe to hold the regional elections in his province or not,” ARMM Regional Assembly Speaker Paisalin Tago said. “So far, he has not said anything.”

Tago said his six constituent-regional legislators in Sulu, who belong to big Tausug families in Sulu, do not see any security problem that can defer the regional elections.

The military and police operations against the Abu Sayyaf are apparently “calibrated maneuvers” aimed at protecting civilians in far-flung communities, he added.

Education officials in Sulu said soldiers and policemen running after the Abu Sayyaf have been coordinating with local officials.

“We don’t see any reason to postpone the Aug. 11 elections in Sulu,” said Ustadz Farid Solaiman Adas, chief of the ARMMís Madaris Education Bureau. “The military and police operations against the Abu Sayyaf were even more serious and greater in magnitude during the previous election periods yet the elections then were orderly, peaceful and honest.” 

Adas, who has jurisdiction over a hundred Islamic missionaries in Sulu, said he has not heard any of his subordinates recommend a postponement of the regional elections in the province.

Press Secretary Jesus Dureza said on Saturday the elections might be affected by the military operations against the Abu Sayyaf.

“Military operations always disrupt normalcy in an area,” he said. “We hope these operations will be terminated at the soonest possible time so we can start normalizing the situation.”

However, since the Commission on Elections is an independent constitutional body, it would still have the final say on the conduct of the ARMM elections, Dureza said.