Mayors’ bloc refute Lagdameo’s alleged meddling in BARMM politics

COTABATO CITY — Nine of the 12 mayors in Maguindanao del Norte refuted on Wednesday, October 9, the allegations by rival quarters that outsiders, among them Special Assistant to the President Antonio Lagdameo Jr., are meddling with politics in the province to suit their vested interests.

The nine mayors, all members of the United Bangsamoro Justice Party, led by Bangsamoro Chief Minister Ahod Ebrahim, explained to reporters, during a forum then in Cotabato City, that there is no truth to assertions by adversarial politicians about what is for them interference in local politics by Lagdameo and South Cotabato Gov. Reynaldo Tamayo Jr., who is president of the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas, or PFP.

The PFP is an ally of the United Bangsamoro Justice Party, or UBJP, which was founded in 2019, or thereabouts, by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front as a political conduit for spreading peace and sustainable development in the provinces and cities in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Mayor Ramil Dilangalen of Northern Kabuntalan told reporters that Lagdameo became the target of unfounded accusations by non-UBJP politicians immediately after he helped unite last week, in a gathering in Davao City, all nine of them and two non-UBJP mayors, who then agreed to have common candidates for governor and vice governor of Maguindanao del Norte in next year’s electoral exercise.

“There is no truth to assertions by certain non-UBJP political camps that Presidential Assistant Lagdameo is interfering with politics in Bangsamoro region and that he has been receiving `special favors and concessions’ from the regional government for his effort to unite politicians in this part of the Bangsamoro region,” Dilangalen, chairman of the United Bangsamoro Development Council, said.

Dilangalen said the newly-formed Maguindanao political bloc that Lagdameo helped establish last week had pitted Mayors Tucao Mastura of Sultan Kudarat and Marshal Sinsuat of Datu Blah Sinsuat as its candidate for Maguindanao del Norte governor and vice governor, respectively.

Mastura and Sinsuat are to contest the candidacy for Maguindanao del Norte governor of Suharto Mangudadatu, former executive director of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, and his running mate.

Mayor Cahar Ibay of Parang town said it is not strange for Lagdameo and Tamayo, who is seeking a third term as South Cotabato governor, to fuse ranks and unite the mayors in Maguindanao del Norte since both of them are officials of the PFP.

“Only one from among the twelve mayors in Maguindanao del Norte was absent in our gathering in Davao City last week,” Ibay said.

Zohria Saglayan Bansil-Guro and Pahmia Aratuc Manalao, mayors of the adjoining Matanog and Buldon towns, respectively, separately told reporters that there is no truth either in stories being circulated by certain quarters that Lagdameo has coerced them into forming the political bloc, along with two non-UBJP mayors, now supporting the Mastura and Sinsuat tandem.

The incumbent UBJP mayors present in Wednesday’s forum in Cotabato City had signed a manifesto, in the presence of reports, refuting the imputations on Lagdameo and Tamayo.

Sinsuat, who is their candidate for vice governor, also affixed his signature to the document, in the presence of reporters.