Hataman and running mate leading in independent poll count

COTABATO CITY --- The upbeat reelectionist Gov. Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao on Tuesday urged his constituent-voters to start tearing down the partisan walls that separated them during the just concluded 30-day campaign period.Hataman and running mate ARMM Vice Gov. Haroun Al-Rashid Lucman are now both leading by over 200,000 votes each in initial separate online tallies by the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas and a television network of election results for ARMM governor and vice governor, respectively.As of dawn Tuesday, Hataman already has 569,320 votes, based on partial, unofficial tallies, as against the 213,903 votes garnered by his less influential challenger, Sulu Vice Gov. Sakur Tan.Lucman, who hails from the second district of Lanao del Sur, already has 474,000 votes in initial unofficial tallies. His closest rival, Kagui Haron Bandila, an ethnic Maguindanaon, only has more than 60,000 votes.The autonomous region, covering Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur in mainland Mindanao and the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, has 1,863,230 registered voters, but only about 60 percent of them cast vote during elections due to security and geographical constraints. Let us now mend fences and bury the hatchets for good. It is in unity that we can proudly show how we value peace in the Bangsamoro homeland. Peace and interfaith unity are very important commodities we can use to secure our liberation from poverty and feudal politics,” Hataman said.Hataman said he is offering his hand to Tan, Sulu’s political kingpin, who has been in politics for about three decades now.Hataman said he will continue his effort to help local leaders in Sulu rebuild the island province from devastations wrought by armed conflicts through public works, social welfare, education and health interventions. Hataman and Tan were originally both members of the Liberal Party but the vice governor turned renegade and filed his candidacy for ARMM’s governorship in October last year without any permission from the LP’s national directorate.Most of the 116 mayors in ARMM and its four provincial governors, the LP stalwarts Esmael Mangudadatu of Maguindanao, Nurbert Sahali of Tawi-Tawi, Mamintal Adiong, Jr. of Lanao del Sur and Jum Akbar of Basilan, were irked by his unilateral move, which was for them a total defiance of LP rules.They immediately tagged Tan as an independent candidate” for ARMM governor and announced they could not support his candidacy for his misbehavior.