Comelec to give legal opinion on who should govern Maguindanao’s two provinces

The Commission on Elections is set to release within the week its legal opinion on who should govern Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur after the conduct of the plebiscite which resulted in the division of the entire province into two, poll chairperson George Garcia said Monday.

In a radio interview, Garcia said they were refraining from giving their opinion on the “very sensitive” matter as they wanted to focus first on the Maguindanao plebiscite held on Saturday.

“Umasa po kayo na in the next few days, maglalabas ang Comelec. Kami po kasi ay nahingan ng legal na opinyon o kung ano ang aming magiging paliwanag tungkol sa sino ba talaga ang mauupo na opisyales doon sa bagong create na isang probinsya at noong dating probinsya,” he said.

(Expect that we will release it in the next few days. We were asked for a legal opinion or explanation about who will sit as government officials in the newly created province and in the other province.)

“Basta ang sinisugarado ko ay ‘yung governor sa kasalukuyan, ‘yun pa rin ang governor ng isang probinsya. At kung sino ang magiging governor ng kabilang probinsya, ‘yan po ang aabangan ng lahat ng taga Maguindanao,” he added.

(What I could assure is that the current governor is still the governor of one province. People in Maguindanao should await who will be the governor of the other province.)

Based on the official plebiscite municipal canvass of votes provided by the Comelec on the Maguindanao plebiscite, 706,558 or 99.27% voted in favor of splitting the province in accordance with Republic Act No. 1150

Meanwhile, 5,209 or 0.73% voted “no” to the proposition.

Now that Maguindanao has been split into two, Garcia explained that Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur will have their own legal personalities, which will then require the appointment of government officials.

“Kinakailangan din pagusapan magkano ang ibibigay na IRA o Internal Revenue Allotment ng bagong probinsya, halimbawa. At the same time, sino ang magso-shoulder ng mga utang dating probinsya kung meron man?” he said, adding that all this should be be done two months after the plebiscite.

(It needs to be discussed how much IRA or Internal Revenue Allotment will be given by the new province, for example. At the same time, who will shoulder the former province’s debts if there are any?)

Garcia said residents of the two provinces will later on get a chance to vote for new local government officials during the 2025 midterm elections.

Acting poll spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco said Sunday that the Maguindanao plebiscite posed the second highest voter turnout for province-wide plebiscites, with over 700,000 voters or 80.84%.

It was also the most participated-in plebiscite province-wide in terms of total number of registered voters and total number of voters who actually voted, he added. — Giselle Ombay/RSJ, GMA News