LP ticket clobbering opposition in ARMM

MANILA, Philippines - The Liberal Party (LP) ticket led by acting Gov. Mujiv Hataman appears to have clobbered its opponents in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Based on partial unofficial tabulation results monitored by television network GMA-7, Hataman was on the way to beating Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) chairman Nur Misuari and former Maguindanao congressman Pax Mangudadatu in the regional gubernatorial race.

Hataman polled 182,008 votes against Mangudadatu’s 80,581. Misuari is coming in third with 41,518.

LP candidate for regional vice governor Haroun Alrashid Lucman was also way ahead of his opponents. He was credited with 196,874 votes against Bashier Manalao’s 22,272 and Bob Datimbang’s 20,056.

Most of LP’s candidates for regional assembly seats were also winning.

President Aquino campaigned personally for Hataman. The two were colleagues in the House of Representatives.

Aquino once described his friend as ARMM’s “ghost buster,” for the acting governor’s efforts to rid the autonomous Muslim region of ghost personnel and ghost procurement contracts, thereby saving its coffers of hundreds of millions in funds for salaries.

ARMM is composed of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi.

All LP candidates for governor and vice governor in these provinces were ahead of their opponents, as well as most candidates of the ruling party for representative and provincial board member.

Months before Monday’s vote, the Commission on Elections purged the voting registry in ARMM of hundreds of thousands of ghost voters.

Re-electionist Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu (LP) was leading in the initial, unofficial tally of votes in the province.

Mangudadatu had a vote count of 107,221 as of 11:24 a.m. Monday, based on a matrix posted by www.rappler.com. His rival, Hadji Tucao Mastura, on the other hand, was trailing behind with 39,178 votes.

In Cotabato City, Vice Mayor Muslimin Sema, chairman of the largest of three groups in the MNLF, yesterday said he was ready to accept the decision of voters if final tabulations would show he lost to re-electionist Mayor Japal Guiani Jr.

Sema, the LP’s mayoral candidate, told reporters he and his followers would accept the outcome of the elections and respect the will of the city’s voting residents.

Sema leads the largest and most politically active of the three groups in the MNLF, which signed a peace pact with the national government on Sept. 2, 1996.

“We shall put a closure to this electoral exercise once we see the final outcome of the canvassing of election results from across Cotabato City,” Sema said.

Guiani, who was elected city mayor in 2010, was leading in the canvassing.

Sema was Cotabato City mayor for three consecutive terms prior to his election as vice mayor, a post Guiani occupied before he became mayor in 2010. – With John Unson