RP Muslims vote for new leader

RP Muslims vote for new leader

Mynardo Macaraig, Agence France-Presse, Zamboanga, Philippines

Filipino Muslims in a poor autonomous region in the southern
Philippines voted on Monday for a new governor while the
incumbent faced extended detention in Malaysia.

Nur Misuari, governor of the Autonomous Region for Muslim
Mindanao (ARMM), spent his third day in a Malaysian prison as
Kuala Lumpur mulled over the prospect of charging him for illegal
entry.

Misuari was arrested on Saturday in the east Malaysian state
of Sabah, where he had escaped after allegedly leading a bloody
revolt in the southern Philippine island of Jolo that left more
than 100 people dead.

As Misuari sat in a Malaysian jail, residents across five
provinces in the ARMM cast their votes Monday to elect key
officials amid tight security.

Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Alfredo Benipayo
said that up to 90 percent of the more than one million
registered voters took part in the elections in the impoverished
and rebellion-torn region.

The process would choose Misuari's successor as ARMM governor,
a vice governor and three district representatives for each of
the eight legislative districts of the 24-seat regional assembly.

"Now that Misuari is out, people are free to go to the polling
places," said southern Philippines military chief Lt. Gen. Roy
Cimatu.

Suspected Misuari followers attacked a military outpost near
Buldon town, a school near Parang town and the public market in
the town of Shariff Aguak on the main island of Mindanao shortly
before the balloting began, but there were no casualties and
there was minimal damage, officials said.

Polling was suspended in certain villages amid allegations of
cheating. Results are scheduled to be tallied overnight.

"We're happy that so far there have been no casualties," said
presidential spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao in Manila.

"There have been incidents which apparently have been
undertaken by groups which are intent in having this democratic
exercise stopped. But despite that, the PNP (national police) and
the AFP (armed forces) have reported to us that things are under
control," he added.

Ibrahim Paglas, an independent candidate for governor, accused
the government of stuffing ballot boxes with fraudulent votes for
his government-backed rival Parouk Hussin who denied the
allegation.

"The stakes here are different from an ordinary local
election," said Eduardo Ermita, a senior adviser to President
Gloria Arroyo.

He said the international community, particularly the 57-
nation Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), was
monitoring the elections -- the final phase of a 1996 peace
agreement signed between Manila and Misuari's rebel group Moro
National Liberation Front (MNLF).

The foreign parties want to ensure that the Philippine
government adhered to its "commitment" to give a political voice
to the marginalized 3.5 million Muslims in this largely Roman
Catholic archipelago of 78 million people, he added.

The Arroyo government has said a successful election would
push the 60-year-old Misuari to the political fringe.

Justice Secretary Hernando Perez said Malaysian Prime Minister
Mahathir Mohamad had asked Arroyo what should be done with
Misuari.

"She replied that he (Misuari) should be tried under the laws
of Malaysia, and then (deported) after serving his sentence
there," Perez said.

Cimatu said that more than 100 Misuari followers in Jolo have
"started sending surrender feelers."

At least 40 others surrendered in Zamboanga city overnight
after a week-long standoff with the military at a government
compound, he added.