Maguindanao sets pro-BOL grand rally in Cotabato City
BULUAN, Maguindanao – Hundreds of people in this province, led by their elected officials, will hold a grand rally here today to manifest their staunch support for the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) in a plebiscite set on Jan. 21 next year.
According to Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu, the provincial pro-BOL “miting de avance” rally will be held inside the 32hectare compound in Cotabato City of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) on the third week of January.
“Prior coordination has been made with ARMM officials and Cotabato City Mayor Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi as a matter of protocol,” he said.
ARMM officials led by Governor Mujiv Hataman is strongly supporting the BOL ratification, but Mayor Sayadi and allied barangay leaders are campaigning for the rejection of the law.
The BOL, known as R.A. 11054, was enacted last July that provides for the creation of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in pursuit of the provisions of two major peace accords the government forged with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in 2013 and 2014.
It proposes BARMM’s automatic coverage of ARMM and the inclusion of Cotabato and Isabela cities, six towns in Lanao del Norte and 39 barangays in six North Cotabato towns. Some villages in Iligan and Zamboanga cities, five more towns in Lanao del Norte and some barangays in Zamboanga Sibugay have petitioned for inclusion in BARMM, prompting the Commission on Elections to set a separate plebiscite on Feb. 6 next year.
At the Dec. 18 meeting here, Gov. Mangudadatu underscored the significance of the BOL ratification, saying the proposed BARMM will be “good for all of us – Muslim, Christians and indigenous people.”
Despite dearth allocations and powers, the ARMM governance has benefitted from its component provinces of Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi and the cities of Marawi and Lamitan, he said.
Because of its more autonomous powers and larger national subsidies, BARMM is expected to yield bigger benefits for areas that will be incorporated, Mangudadatu said.
Besides, he said, voters in the coming referendums should value the 200,000 lives lost in decades of armed struggle for meaningful autonomy in the Bangsamoro.
The Cotabato City electorate cast negative votes in 1989 and 2001 plebiscites for the ARMM creation and expansion, respectively. Ironically, the city has been serving as “temporary seat” of the ARMM government.
Mayor Sayadi, in an earlier statement, said the electorate will likely reject as usual the BOL because the city can “stand on its own” as proven in its “rapid growth” in recent years.
But pro-BOL advocates, including MILF officials, said that ARMM’s monetary expenditures have greatly contributed to the city’s growth. Besides, they said, the city people derive natural resources like water supply from nearby towns of Datu Odin Sinsuat and Sultan Kudarat in Maguindanao.
Debates over the BOL have escalated as can be seen in the surge of billboards in all strategic city streets and suburbs, heating up more the mayoralty contest between Sayadi and Maguindanao Rep. Sandra Sema, one of BOL main authors and wife of former City Mayor Muslimin Sema.
Informed by journalists who saw the contrasting billboards on Wednesday, new Presidential Adviser Carlito Galvez Jr. on Wednesday said candidates in the 2019 polls should not make BOL a “personal political propaganda” because the law evolved from crucial processes, including loss of thousands of lives and extreme poverty in Moro areas.