MILF chair Murad: No election hotspots detected two months ahead of Bangsamoro plebiscite

There are no election hotspots with two months left before the conduct of the plebiscite for the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law,  Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim said Monday.

Murad was referring to the January 21, 2019 plebiscite which will determine the provinces that will be covered by the BOL's provision of a new Bangsamoro Autonomous Region which will enjoy fiscal autonomy and governed by the Bangsamoro Parliament elected by the Bangsamoro Region’s inhabitants. 

The said Bangsamoro Autonomous Region will replace the existing Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Also provided under the BOL is the inclusion of the six Lanao del Norte municipalities and 39 barangay (villages) of North Cotabato in the Bangsamoro Region, which will only happen if their mother provinces approve of it via the January 2019 plebiscite.

“The plebiscite is not like a regular election when it is between opponents. As far we we have observed, there has been no areas considered as [election] hotspots for now, and we hope that this will continue [until January],” Murad told reporters during his unprecedented visit in Camp Aguinaldo, the headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

“In a plebiscite, it is more an exercise of expressing the will of the people, so we hope that the violence may not be as bad as regular elections in communities. We are trying our best to prevent any violence,” Murad added.

Murad also cited the MILF’s strong partnership with the Armed Forces of the Philippines and thru the Joint Ceasefire Committee, and the existence of the third-party led Transitional Justice Reconciliation Committee which have already made recommendations on how to ensure the conduct of the peaceful BOL plebiscite.

Armed Forces chief General Carlito Galvez Jr. agreed.

“We foresee some areas [where there could be skirmishes], but these are manageable areas,” Galvez said. — RSJ, GMA News