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.