COTABATO CITY - The six provincial governors and 114 mayors in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao are rejoicing over what for them is the very imminent re-election of ARMM Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan based on their own exit poll surveys and unofficial data obtained from local poll personnel.
Mayor Roderick Furigay in Lamitan City said Ampatuan garnered almost 20,000 votes in their 45 barangays, while his two closest rivals, the controversial Indanan, Sulu Mayor Alvarez Isnaji and former ARMM Vice Gov. Guimid Matalam, only got more than 200 votes each.
Ranking members of the Sulu league of mayors said by their own estimates, Ampatuan also defeated Isnaji in their province with an overwhelming, irreversible margin, something never before seen in the history of the politically-turbulent island province.
Officials of the league said even the acting mayor of Indanan, who took over the town’s mayoral post after Isnaji was detained at Camp Crame in connection with his alleged involvement in the kidnapping of ABS-CBN senior reporter Ces Drilon and three others, supported Ampatuan in last Monday’s election.
Sulu governor Hadji Sakur Tan said he and his 18 mayors are very sure of Ampatuan’s victory in their island province even before the region’s Aug. 11 polls because all of them supported Ampatuan’s candidacy.
Physician Lampa Pandi, mayor of Poona-Bayabao in Lanao del Sur, also said Ampatuan will emerge as the winner in the final results of the gubernatorial election in his town since all of the religious, traditional and barangay leaders there campaigned for him.
“We hope he will be proclaimed before the weekend. There was no real rivalry between him and his rivals. Actually, for mayors in Lanao del Sur, Gov. Ampatuan ran for re-election unopposed because the other candidates for governor are politically unknown in Lanao del Sur,” said Pandi, who was a former ARMM health secretary.
If proclaimed winner by the Commission on Elections, Ampatuan will be the first regional governor to serve a second term.
Ampatuan’s predecessors, including Moro National Liberation Front chairman Nur Misuari, who was the region’s chief executive from 1996 to 2001, only served one term each.
Isnaji, for his part, is leaving his fate and political career to Allah.
Isnaji and his son, Haider, a candidate for assemblyman, were not allowed to vote in last Monday’s elections because they are detained at the Custodial Center in Camp Crame, Quezon City, facing serious offense of kidnapping for ransom charges.
Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Avelino Razon Jr. said security has been heightened in Camp Crame and in others camps in the Philippines in connection with the ARMM elections.
In an earlier interview, Atty. Joventino Diamante, lead legal counsel, said Mayor Isnaji has left everything to Allah, including his political career and his full vindication from the kidnapping of Drilon, her cameramen Jimmy Encarnacion and Angelo Valderama and Mindanao State University professor Octavio Dinampo.
“His priority now is his case, his freedom and the full vindication of his name. He leaves it to God and the people of ARMM to judge. He has full faith in God and he believes God does miracles in many mysterious ways,” Diamante said in a text message to The STAR.
Meanwhile, the Isnajis, through Diamante, filed a motion for reconsideration on the resolution of the Department of Justice (DOJ) which found probable cause on their alleged participation in the kidnapping of Drilon’s group.
Diamante added that “the motion for reconsideration will show how the panel gravely abused its discretion in feigning that probable cause exists against Mayor Isnaji and his son when the evidence on record provides none.”
Police said the Isnajis kept P3 million of the P5-million ransom paid by the family of the kidnap victims that earlier secured the freedom of Valderama, but Haider maintained that he gave all the P5 million to the kidnappers.
Aside from the P5 million, Haider also admitted to have delivered to the kidnappers P15 million the second batch of ransom that led to the release of the remaining three hostages.
Senior Superintendent Winnie Quidato of the Intelligence Group said he, together with Sulu Vice Gov. Lady Ann Sahidullah, delivered the P5-million ransom to the house of the Isnajis, adding that Mayor Isnaji himself told him that he only gave P2 million to the kidnappers. With Cecille Suerte Felipe