Thousands join Cotabato City ecumenical prayer event

COTABATO CITY -- Muslims and Christians on Friday together prayed for peace amid the tension between quarters bitterly divided by irreconcilable stances on the Bangsamoro Organic Law.Representatives from the local Islamic and Christian communities prayed one after another during the event, organized to allay worsening security apprehensions triggered by the glaring animosity between groups that are either for, or against the BOL, also known as the Republic Act 11054.Cotabato City Mayor Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi has promised during the ecumenical prayer rally to fully flex her authority to protect constituents from threats spreading via Facebook and text messages, warning of bloodshed if residents will vote against the BOL during the January 21 plebiscite that would seal its fate.The Guiani-Sayadi administration is against the inclusion of the city, temporary seat of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, from the proposed core territory of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, or BARMM, that would replace the now 29-year ARMM if the BOL gets electoral approval on January 21.The BOL is the enabling measure for the switch from ARMM to BARMM based on two compacts between Malacañang and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front - the 2012 Framework Agreement on Bangsamoro and, subsequently, the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro.Besides ARMM’s Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi provinces, the BOL plebiscite shall also be held in Cotabato City, which is under Region 12, in Basilan’s former capital, Isabela City, and in parts of Lanao del Norte and North Cotabato to determine if residents there are in favor of fusing their communities together under an MILF-led BARMM.Guiani-Sayadi said Cotabato City could stand alone economy-wise and administratively even without being included in the BARMM territory. I will dedicate my life in protecting my constituents from threats coming from everywhere Guiani-Sayadi said.She also assailed the people behind fictitious Facebook accounts attacking her, the members of her family and the city’s barangay officials for campaigning for a no vote on January 21.The MILF’s central leadership core and its political arm, the United Bangsamoro Justice and Peace Party, have overtly been prodding voters in all of Cotabato City’s 37 barangays and elsewhere in the ARMM to vote in favor of BOL.Senior MILF officials have persistently been refuting insinuations that members of the front could be behind the hate campaigns against anti-BOL sectors, hinting that a third party could possibly be the culprit.The tension here worsened immediately after the December 31 bombing near the Southseas Mall in the city’s main commercial hub that left two dead and injured 37 others.The Regional Police Office-12 and the Army’s 6thInfantry Division have separately said there are indications that the attack was perpetrated by the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.Many beleaguered residents here find hard to comprehend such theory due to speculations that the bombing was a tacit warning to sectors opposing the BOL.The BIFF, not covered by the interim ceasefire pact between the government and the MILF, operates in the fashion of the Islamic State.Guiani-Sayadi’s bid for another term in the May 2019 local polls is being contested by a staunch BOL supporter, Maguindanao Rep. Sandra Sema.While Cotabato City is under Administrative Region 12, it is inside the first congressional district of ARMM’s Maguindanao province, whose political leaders, among them the now outgoing third-termer Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu, are vocal BOL endorsers.Mangudadatu is campaigning for an affirmative vote for BOL, asserting that the BARMM, to have expanded fiscal, political and administrative powers, shall undoubtedly be better than the now 29-year ARMM. The BARMM will have a direct hand in harnessing the region’s natural resources like oil and natural gas deposits, so how can we in Maguindanao vote against BOL? It’s time for the Mindanao secessionist problem to end for good, Mangudadatu said.Mangudadatu and the league of mayors in Maguindanao are now organizing a large pro-BOL campaign rally in the provincial capital, Buluan town, on January 15.Mangudadatu and ARMM’s regional chief executive, Gov. Mujiv Hataman, also a strong BOL endorser, have been appealing to opposing camps to focus on peaceful forums that could enlighten voters on why they are either for, or against the creation of BARMM.Mangudadatu said the pro-BOL campaign forum in Buluan on January 15 is open to sectors in Maguindanao opposing ARMM’s replacement with BARMM. If ever there are people in the province who are against the BOL, I can guarantee their safety, if there are, at the venue of that activity. They can listen to peaceful talks about the importance of the BOL, he said.Mangudadatu, chairman of the provincial peace and order council, said he is as concerned with the security situation in Cotabato City owing to its being inside Maguindanao province. A big number of employees of the provincial government are residing in Cotabato City. The plebiscite is just an electoral process. It must not tear us apart and cause permanent fragmentation of Muslim, Christian and Lumad voters, Mangudadatu said.