MANILA – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is hoping for a better turnout in today’s second Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) plebiscite despite the recent bombing incident in the region
In a press conference on Tuesday, Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said they hope to have higher than 75 percent voter turnout in the plebiscite even if the bill is already ratified.
“The Jan. 21 plebiscite was a success and we hope to duplicate that success here,” Jimenez said. “Stakes are different, stakes are no longer ratification, this is only inclusion. So I don’t know if that will generate the same sort of interest.”
He added: “But we are nevertheless hopeful that because these are politically active areas – historically and traditionally – we expect that we will have a turnout of better than 75 percent.”
Among those included in the second plebiscite were six municipalities of Lanao del Norte namely Baloi, Munai, Nunungan, Pantar, Tagaloan and Tangkall and 39 barangays of North Cotabato namely Aleosan, Carmen, Cabacan, Midsayap, Pigkawayan, and Pikit.
The Comelec en banc – which sits as the National Plebiscite Board of Canvassers – has “deemed ratified” the BOL after getting more than 1.5 million favorable votes during the first plebiscite.
Among the provinces who favored the ratification of Republic Act 11054, or BOL, in the first plebiscite were Cotabato City and provinces under the ARMM, namely Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao, while Isabela City and Basilan were not.
Basilan province voted for the ratification of the BOL but will not be included in the BARMM since it remains the mother unit of Isabela City, which voted against the BOL ratification.
The BOL will replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao with a Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao with an expanded land and water jurisdiction, fiscal autonomy, increased share in national government resources, among others.
This is seen as the final step in the peace agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which has been leading a separatist insurgency since the 1970s./PN
