Maranaw officials deny support of Sulu vice governor's candidacy

MARAWI CITY, Philippines - Maranaw local executives denied supporting the candidacy of Sulu Vice Gov. Sakur Tan for regional governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Tan had filed his candidacy for ARMM governor without any written permission from the Liberal Party (LP).

ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman filed on October 15 his certificate of candidacy (COC) for regional governor at the office of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Cotabato City with an LP certificate of nomination and acceptance (CONA).

Copies of Hataman’s CONA were received by media outfits in Central Mindanao and in the autonomous region a day after his COC was received by Comelec.

Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal Adiong Jr., an LP stalwart, said he and members of the party in the province are for Hataman, who is seeking a second term, and are not supporting Tan’s candidacy.

Hataman’s running mate, incumbent ARMM Vice Gov. Haroun Al-Rashid Lucman, is a scion of a big Maranaw clan in Lanao del Sur. He is related both by blood and by affinity to many of the 39 mayors in the province.

Hataman and Lucman ran in tandem for ARMM governor and vice governor, respectively, during the May 13, 2013 elections as LP official candidates.

Adiong refuted the allegations by certain groups that he and the other provincial governors in the autonomous region have crossed party lines to push Tan’s candidacy forward.

“What we, provincial governors in the ARMM have is an alliance supporting Hataman, not Vice Gov. Tan,” Adiong said at the sideline of Monday’s inter-agency security meeting at the Lanao del Sur provincial capitol in Marawi City.

Adiong said there is no truth to stories circulating in Zamboanga City purporting that the five provincial governors in the autonomous region had formed a bloc supporting Tan.

Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu, also an LP member, had earlier denied there is such bloc, asserting he is loyal to the party and abides by its rules.

Mangudadatu said as a loyal party member, he is obliged to support the candidacy of Hataman.

The ARMM covers Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, which are both in mainland Mindanao, and the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

Adiong said Hataman is his “political and administrative boss” being the ARMM’s chief executive.

“He is my boss so we will stay together as political allies,” Adiong said.

Tan had said, in video footage posted on Facebook by a Sulu-based television news correspondent, that he did not have any CONA from LP when he filed his COC also through an emissary.