GANASSI, Lanao del Sur — A mayoral aspirant has filed a petition before the Municipal Circuit Trial Court to exclude 3,000 voters in Pualas town, triggering tensions.
Hundreds of supporters of Pualas town Mayor Amanoden Ducol flocked to Ganassi town last week after mayoral aspirant Al Ihsan Marohom Ibrahim filed the petition before the Municipal Circuit Trial Court.
The court has judicial jurisdiction over Pualas town and the neighboring municipalities of Madamba and Pagayawan in Lanao del Sur.
Ibrahim alleged that 3,000 of the 9,151 voters on the list in Pualas town are “fake” and sought to exclude these “fictitious voters.”
MTCC branch 3 Judge Flerida Aisa Baluto-Macaraya summoned 2,000 alleged “fake voters” from Pualas to appear in court to answer questions about their age and residence.
“Based sa aming tabulation, we seek the removal of 2,900 alleged fake voters that have registered in Pualas town,” lawyer Mohammad Jihad Sarangani, chief legal counsel of the complainant told reporters.
Tension rose when supporters of Mayor Ducol prevented the convoy bearing Sarangani and other lawyers of mayoral aspirant Ibrahim from leaving the courtyard of the MTCC Branch 3 building in Ganassi town.
Lanao del Sur PNP provincial deputy director Juanito Jamis said the supporters of Mayor Ducol alleged that the convoy of the lawyers had two unidentified armed policemen from outside the province.
Jamis said, however, that when they checked the documents of the policemen from Maguindanao they found their papers were in order.
“The policemen presented to us their travel orders and other pertinent papers. Their escort duty was legal,” Jamis said.
According to the NGO International Crisis Group, elections and the months prior to Election Day are always marked with fistfights and brawls between candidates’ supporters in Lanao del Sur.
The group said the Commission on Elections declared a “failure of elections” in 14 Lanao del Sur villages following violent incidents committed by warring politicians and their supporters.
