Hataman reiterates appeal for reconciliation among ARMM rival pols
• 00:19 AM Tue May 10, 2016
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By:
John Unson
Reelectionist ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman show his finger smeared with indelible ink to reporters while emerging from a polling site in Sumisip, Basilan. JOHN UNSON
COTABATO CITY -- Reelectionist Gov. Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao on Monday went to a polling precinct to cast vote without a convoy of armed escorts to show he is not a political warlord relying on a private army to perpetuate power.
Hataman finished voting at a polling precinct in his birthplace, Barangay Buli-Buli in Sumisip town in Basilan, shortly before 10and00 a.m. Monday.
There was no problem in that polling precinct whatsoever. The conduct of election there was smooth and orderly,” Hataman said.
Hataman again called on feuding partisan camps in the autonomous region, which covers Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, both in mainland Mindanao, and in the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, to end their rivalries as soon as polling sites close on Monday.
Hataman’s candidacy is supported by almost all of the 116 mayors in the autonomous region, a known bastion of the Liberal Party. His constituent-provincial governors, Jum Akbar of Basilan, Nurbert Sahali of Tawi-Tawi, Esmael Mangudadatu of Maguindanao and Mamintal Adiong, Jr. of Lanao del Sur all backed his bid for a second term too.Hataman is the regional figurehead of LP in the autonomous region.
His candidacy is being contested by a renegade LP member, Sulu Vice Gov. Sakur Tan, who filed his candidacy for the ARMM’s governorship without any permission from the party.