Comelec to be considerate with MILF in special registration: Jimenez

From the Philippine News Agency (Sep 11): Comelec to be considerate with MILF in special registration: Jimenez

SPECIAL LIST UP. Commission on Elections spokesperson Director James Jimenez (center) responds to queries on Monday (Sept. 10) by Cotabato newsmen on the scheduled Sept 11-13, 2018 special satellite registration in 16 areas of Mindanao in connection with the plebiscite for the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) early next year. (PNA Cotabato photo)

COTABATO CITY – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will give "utmost consideration" to Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) members who are participating in the three-day special voters’ list up in Camp Darapanan, the MILF’s main enclave situated in Simuay, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao.

“Yes, we would be very considerate especially to MILF members during this special registration activity,” Director James Jimenez, Comelec spokesperson, said during a press conference here on Monday.

Jimenez's assurance came after the Comelec launched in this city and 15 other venues a three–day special satellite registration (Sept. 11-13) in the cities of Cotabato, and Isabela, Basilan; and provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, Lanao del Norte, and North Cotabato.

Jimenez said the poll body acknowledged the problems that commonly arise during registration, including the unique circumstances of former rebels, who usually don't have birth certificates and other pertinent documents to identify them.

“As long as there are people who could vouch for the registrant’s personality, then there is no reason for us not to let them be registered as voters,” Jimenez said.

Further pressed if an MILF Identification document (I.D.) is enough for a MILF member to register, Jimenez said: “As long as the MILF I.D. is valid and recognized by their MILF superiors.”

In Camp Darapanan, MILF chairman Al Haj Murad is expected to lead Tuesday thousands of MILF members and sympathizers for the registration activity. Lawyer Udtog Tago, Maguindanao election supervisor, said they have fielded eight voters’ registration machines (VRMs) in Camp Darapanan alone.

The VRMs could process 300 registrants each daily for a total of 2,400 new voters. “We are confident that the VRMs could handle the process for the next three days,” Tago said.

The MILF has an estimated 7,000 former armed combatants scattered mostly in the mainland Mindanao provinces of Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur.

The two provinces, together with cities of Marawi and Lamitan, and other provinces of Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi, forms part of the existing Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

The ongoing special registration is being undertaken in connection with the conduct of a plebiscite for the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) slated early next year.

The new law provides for the establishment of an expanded political entity known as the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), replacing the decades-old ARMM set up.

Being proposed for inclusion under the BARMM are all the areas under the current ARMM and 39 barangays in North Cotabato, six municipalities in Lanao del Norte, and the cities of Cotabato, and Isabela in Basilan.

Jimenez said at least eight special registration teams are scattered in areas included in the forthcoming BOL plebiscite. “We are undertaking this added task as part of our job, and in the name of peace,” he stressed.

Lawyer Ray Sumalipao, Comelec-ARMM director, said that currently, the region has some 1.7 million voters but with the ongoing voters’ registration, it is expected that the voting population for the Bangsamoro political entity would balloon to an estimated 2.3 million voters.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1047561