Implementation of primary, maternity care benefits in baragays seen
See story, p.2
MINDANAO DAILY We innovate... and we lead!
Volume VIII, No. 204
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Thursday, January 24, 2019
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BOL poll generally peaceful: Comelec
PLEBISCITE. Voters in Simuay Junction Central Elementary School in Simuay, Sultan Kudarat walk past heavily armed soldiers on January 21, 2019, day of the plebiscite for the Bangsamoro Law. The school is where MILF Chairman Murad Ebrahim is a registered voter.
By BONG S. SARMIENTO MindaNews
COTABATO City--The conduct of the plebiscite on Monday to ratify Republic Act 11054 or the Organic Law for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao was generally peaceful, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said on Tuesday. Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez described the plebiscite as a success. “It was a clean and peaceful elections, except for Cotabato City,” he said. The plebiscite covers the Autonomous Region i n Mu s l i m M i n d an a o (ARMM), which straddles the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-tawi. Rey Sumalipao, Comelec-ARMM director, placed the voters’ turnout at 85 percent. ARMM and the cities of Isabela in Basilan and Cotabato have a total voting population of around 2.1 million. The two cities are not part of ARMM. See PEACEFUL, page 11
Cotabato City votes ‘yes’ to BOL By EDWIN FERNANDEZ, PNA
COTABATO City--Majority of Cotabato City’s voters opted to join the new political entity in Muslim Mindanao after voting “yes” to the inclusion of this city to the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) based on the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) final tally here Tuesday night. Based on the canvassing of votes by the City Board of Canvassers that ended at 8:43 p.m. Tuesday, the “yes” had 36,682 (59 percent) votes favoring the inclusion of the city to the new political entity while “no” recorded CANVASSING. Plebiscite returns are opened in the presence of poll watchers by 24,994 (41 percent). the Cotabato City Plebiscite Board of Canvassers inside the Shariff Kabunsuan Cultural Complex in Cotabato City on 22 January 2019. MindaNews photo by Manman Dejeto
See VOTES, page 11
Maguindanao gives big ‘yes’ to Bangsamoro law COTABATO City––Maguindanao province overwhelmingly voted “yes” to ratify the Bangsamoro Law, the Commission on Elections announced at around 5:45 pm Tuesday. Based on the final and official
results of the Maguindanao Provincial Plebiscite Board of Canvassers (PPBOC ), 608 846 voted in favor and 9,096 against the law. Maguindanao is a known stronghold of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Sultan Kudarat town, which hosts the sprawling Camp Darapanan, the MILF’s main headquarters after the fall of Camp Abubakar Assidique during the 2000 allout war of then President Joseph Estrada, was the last to submit the
municipal election returns among Maguindanao’s 36 towns. For Sultan Kudarat, 50,269 voted in favor of the law, said lawyer Ernie Palanan, chair of the Maguindanao Provincial See YES, page 11
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