Violence Fails to Derail Autonomy Vote in Southern Philippines

The military and the police were deployed to safeguard the public and the democratic process.

Hundreds of thousands of people in two Muslimdominated provinces of the southern Philippines went to the polls on Wednesday, for the second part of a referendum on a new autonomous region, despite violence the day before.

Two explosions and a grenade blast took place in the provinces of Lanao del Norte and North Cotabato on Tuesday, with no injuries or damage reported, but electoral commission spokesman James Jimenez said the violence did not affect the turnout.

Some 640,000 voters are registered to vote in the provinces for their inclusion in an autonomous region meant to allow selfgovernance for the Bangsamoro people as part of a peace agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in 2014.

“No amount of bombing or terrorist acts will scare, intimidate or threaten the voters from participating in today’s plebiscite,” presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said.

Mr Panelo said the military and the police were deployed to safeguard the public and the democratic process.

On January 21, the first part of the referendum to create the new autonomous region was held in other areas in Mindanao. The MILF was confident that people in North Cotabato would favour their inclusion in the autonomous region but unsure of its approval in Lanao del Norte, where the provincial governor campaigned for its rejection.