Info drive for ARMM plebiscite lacks funds

COTABATO CITY — Efforts to inform the public about the political intricacies of the Aug. 14 plebiscite for expanded Mindanao autonomy, to be held in 14 provinces and 10 cities, are beset with financial constraints and its proponents are worried people would vote against it due to lack of knowledge on the issue.

Lawyer Clarita Callar, Region 12 director of the Commission on Elections, told Catholic radio station dxMS that the Comelec, indeed, lacks funds to sustain an extensive drive to educate residents in Central Mindanao on the expansion of autonomy.

"But since there is a law that set the date of the plebiscite, we have no way but to hold it as scheduled, unless there is a law resettling it to a later date," Callar said.

While it favors the plebiscite, the "Council of 15," the new central leadership of the Moro National Liberation Front, wants it postponed to January 2002 to give the government and the MNLF enough time to carry out an extensive information campaign on the ramifications of expanded autonomy.

"If we can even hold it simultaneous with the nationwide barangay elections next year, the better. It will be less expensive on the part of the government," said Cotabato City Mayor Datu Muslim Sema, MNLF secretary-general.

Sulu Gov. Yusoph Jikiri, also a member of the Council of 15, has asked Malacañang to reconsider another postponement of the plebiscite.

The plebiscite is part of the Sept. 2, 1996 government-MNLF peace pact which provides for the expansion, through a plebiscite, of the present Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The region is currently composed of four provinces, namely Maguindanao, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and Lanao del Sur. — John Unson, Edith Regalado