DAVAO CITY (July 25 ) – Many are wondering the sudden resignation of of the town Mayor and Vice Mayor of Datu Unsay, Maguindanao which paved the way to the assumption of Datu Andal “Datu Aguak” S. Ampatuan V as mayor.
Residents of said town were surprised upon learning that Mayor Fuentes Dukay and his father, Vice Mayor Wanay Salibo Dukay submitted their letters of resignation to Maguindanao Governor Bai Mariam Sangki-Mangudadatu for still unknown reasons.
The newly assumed Mayor is the son of jailed former mayor of said town Andal “Datu Unsay” Ampatuan Jr. , who stands as the prime suspect in the bloody Maguindanao Massacre which killed 52 people including 32 journalist in November 23, 2009.
The assumption of Ampatuan V and the resignations of the Dukay’s has many questions including it’s legality.
But Minister Naguib Sinarimbo of the Ministry of Interior and Local Government-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (MILG-BARMM) said the installation of Ampatuan is legal and valid which is allowed under under the law.
Sinarimbo was quoted by Philippine News Agency saying “Under the rule of a succession of RA 7160 or the Local Government Code it is granted because there are permanent vacancies in the top two posts.”
Sinarimbo claimed he was informed that the Dukay’s filed their resignation last week before the governor.
The young Ampatuan took his oath as Mayor before Senator Nancy Binay at the Senate office of the lawmaker on Tuesday in Manila.
With both resignations, Sinarimbo said it was only logical for Ampatuan to sit as mayor after garnering the highest number of votes as number one councilor during the May 2019 polls.
A Facebook post of Ampatuan also showed him expressing his appreciation to Senator Binay for his oath-taking as the new mayor of Datu Unsay town.
“I would like to express my warmest and heartfelt gratitude to Senator Nancy S. Binay for leading my oath-taking as the Municipal Mayor of Datu Unsay, Maguindanao,” he said in a Facebook post.
The young Ampatuan is the son of jailed Andal “Datu Unsay” Ampatuan Jr., the former mayor of the town and a principal suspect in the infamous November 2009 Maguindanao massacre, and the late Bai Reshal Santiago-Ampatuan, also a former mayor of the same town, who died of cardiac arrest on April 2018.
The new vice-mayor of Datu Unsay, still under the rule of succession, is Bai Janine Ampatuan Mamalapat. EZC
