Samuel P. Medenilla & Manuel T. Cayon
FOUR days after the first leg of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) plebiscite, the National Plebiscite Board of Canvassers (NPBOC) will finally start its canvassing on Thursday.
This after the NPBOC finally received the Certificate of Canvass (COC) and its supporting Statement of Votes (SOV) from Cotabato City at 4:49 p.m. on Wednesday.
The results of Cotabato City appear, this early, headed for a long-drawn tug-of-war, however.
The hotly contested Cotabato City voted to be included in the emerging political unit to be called the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), despite a strong rejectionist campaign mounted by city government officials.
The decision came at 8:45 p.m. on Tuesday when city canvassers tallied 36,682 votes for yes, or inclusion into the BARMM as against 24,994 no votes. Only 54 percent of the total registered voters took part in the polls last Monday.
The “yes” proponents cheered, with about a thousand of them chanting “Allahu Akhbar” (God is great). They mounted a motorcade parade around the kilometer-long road from the national highway of Sinsuat Avenue going to the fenced regional government center.
They later feasted on grilled chicken and rice after keeping a daylong vigil outside the compound of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
The city mayor, Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi, said she will file a protest at the Commission on Elections (Comelec), citing alleged poll irregularities. She said yes proponents, including the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), “intimidated” the voters outside and inside the polling places.
Cotabato City is one of two cities outside the ARMM where the plebiscite was held to ratify the BOL, which gives the legal clout for the establishment of the BARMM.
The other place is Isabela City, the capital of Basilan, which is part of the ARMM.
The “no” votes initially dominated the tally throughout Isabela City but the canvassing was stopped after 10 precincts were asked to be deferred for exclusion. The unfinished canvassing has to be submitted to the Comelec national office to be debated and decided upon during the national canvassing.
As of 5 p.m. on Wednesday, canvassed results in Isabela City showed the no votes leading with 22,441, and the yes votes with 19,032.
Technically, the 10 precincts would still allow the yes vote to overtake the no vote, but a Comelec-accredited citizen arm said it would be up to the lawyers to argue.
Partial and unofficial tally showed a wide margin in the ARMM areas. In Maguindanao yes got 558,489, against 6,400 voters who wanted to be excluded.
Lanao del Sur voted an overwhelming yes, with 503,626 votes, with only 9,816 for no. Tawi-Tawi posted 143,443 yes votes against 9,419 on the contrary side.
While Isabela City was in a deadlock tilting toward the exclusion side, its mother province of Basilan voted overwhelmingly for yes, at 138,569 votes versus only 6,589 for no.
Sulu was the only contrary side, with a yes vote of 137,891 against a much higher no vote of 152,493.
The Monday’s plebiscite involved only ARMM, with registered voters of 1,980,441, Isabela City with 71,124 registered voters and Cotabato City with 113,751 voters.
The second phase of the plebiscite on February 6 will be held for areas outside the ARMM but which petitioned for inclusion in the BARMM.
These are in the 67 barangays in the Lanao del Norte towns of Balo-i, Munai, Nunungan, Pantar, Tagoloan, and Tangkal, and in the North Cotabato towns of Aleosan, Carmen, Kabacan, Midsayap, Pigcawayan, Pikit and Tulunan.
Interior Secretary Eduardo M. Año, meanwhile, thanked the police and military for acting as peacekeepers during the Monday’s poll exercise.
Despite isolated incidents, he said, the plebiscite was generally peaceful. A total of 6,698 police personnel were deployed for the first BOL plebiscite.
The DILG chief also lauded the 72 police personnel who served as Board of Election Inspectors during the plebiscite after the assigned teachers failed to show up due to security threats.
First COC
The COC from Cotabato City is the first of the four COCs from the BOL plebiscite. The three others, which will come from Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), province of Basilan and Isabela City, are expected to arrive within the week.
NPBOC Secretary Consuelo B. Diola announced the canvasing will start today at the Comelec main office at 2 p.m. in Intramuros, Manila.
She explained the canvassing of BOL plebiscite took longer compared to the automated election, since it was manually held.
“There is really no delay. It is just the regular course of manual canvass. We don’t think it is a delay,” Diola said.
Low turnout
Citing their initial field reports, Comelec Spokesman James B. Jimenez said Sulu has the lowest voter turnout for the provinces with 80.2 percent. Sulu has a total of 375,087 registered voters.
“For the rest of the provinces, it was high,” Jimenez said in a phone patch press conference.
For cities, Jimenez said Cotabato City has the lowest voter turnout.
“Cotabato City has 113,751 registered voters; 61,674 actually voted, for a voter turnout of 54.22 percent,” Jimenez said in his official Twitter account.
Despite the low voter participation in the city, Jimenez said they are still expecting to achieve to get a voter turnout of more than 75 percent for the BOL plebiscite.
Clerical error
Jimenez also addressed the reported “discrepancy” in the reported number of registered voters from Cotabato City.
A Comelec document showed there were only 71,963 voters in Cotabato City, instead of its actual number of registered voters of 113,751.
Jimenez assured the “clerical error” will have no impact on the final results of the plebiscite and will be corrected during the national canvassing.
The poll official, however, said the incident will still go through the necessary investigation from the NPBOC.
“I think what happened there is the form was filled up ahead of time,” Jimenez said.
“We live it up for the National Board of Canvassers to decide on the level of discipline will be issued against them,” he added.
As to the statement of Cotabato City Mayor Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi pronouncement she will question the outcome of the plebiscite, Jimenez refused to comment on the issue until she officially files a manifestation to the NPBOC.
With Jonathan L. Mayuga
Image credits: AP/Aaron Favila