MUNAI, LANAO DEL NORTE (September 28) —– April of last year, he was fleeing his home in Barangay Gacap, Piagapo, Lanao del Sur to escape from a gunfight between the state forces and the Dawlah Islamiya group who started to encamp a portion of the said barangay.
He fled, bringing his wife and two little children to a safer place. Monta Saomay’s family was part of the hundreds of families who evacuated from Gacap when the military started to arrive and positioned in the once frequented area in Lanao del Sur.
Saomay left the home where he grew up with when the government’s Armed Forces’ aerial bombardments started and exchange of gunfire become intense. He feared his family will be caught in a crossfire.
His worst fear was being mistaken to be a supporter of the ISIS-inspired group because he was known to be a son of a former combatant of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). The MNLF has no longer its armed group after it signed a peace agreement with the Republic of the Philippines in 1996.
Almost recruited by ISIS
Saomay admitted he was recruited to join the Dawlah Islamiah by an Imam who was already a member of the terrorist group. The Imam was killed during the military operation against the militants in April of last year.
“Si Imam man ang recruiter doon, pero hindi ako sumama sa kanila kasi mahirap na. Sabi din naman ni Imam, ‘kung gusto mo lang sumama sa amin kasi alam mo naman ang ipinaglalaban namin, iyong kapayapaan ng lahat’. Pero sabi ko, okay lang sa akin kasi nasa Bangsamoro din naman ako, iisa lang ang layunin. Sabi ni Imam ‘hindi kita pipilitin’ (Imam was the recruiter there (Gacap), but I did not go with them because it was hard. Imam said ‘if only you want to join with us because you know, what we are fighting here is for everyone to have peace’. I told them, ‘I am okay because anyway I am also with the Bangsamoro with the same objective. Imam said ‘I will not force you’),” Saomay said.
In Barangay Lindongan in Munai, Lanao del Norte, Saomay and his family started anew, away from the firefight of the Dawlah Islamiyah and the state forces. A month ago, he and his wife had their third baby.
First-time voter
On September 23, the 24-year old Saomay went to the office of the Commission on Election (COMELEC) in Munai to register for the first time.
He said that the Bangsamoro Organic Law plebiscite in January and the regular elections in May next year were very important occasions that he does not want to pass without participating.
Together with the other 50 members of the MNLF in the ‘state of Lanao del Norte,’ Saomay got for the first time his acknowledgment receipt from the COMELEC, giving him the chance to exercise his right to vote for the candidates whom he said are ‘worth to be voted’.
He could not fill-up the form. He needs somebody else’s help. He never got to school in his life. “Nakabasa man ako, pero pangalan ko lang at mga simple na salita (I can read but only my name and some simple words),” he said in a low voice, showing shyness.
In voting for the elections, Saomay said, he will be voting also the future of his children. He wanted them to go to school and finish a degree. “Para hindi sila magaya sa akin na hindi nakapag-aral (So that they will not be like me who did not attend school),” he said. Munai Assistant Election Officer Khalil Batuampar assisted him in filing his application form.
The special registration on September 23 was conducted for members of the MNLF. Batuampar said it was conducted in compliance with the directive of the COMELEC’s Executive Director to conduct such registration, giving preference to members of the MNLF and Moro Islamic Liberation Front. It was approved by the Commission En Banc on its regular session on September 19.
It was however clarified that the said registration is not only for the BOL plebiscite but also for the 2019 elections.
Vote for BOL
Abdul Azis Batingolo alias Commander Dante of the MNLF’s state of Lanao del Norte confirmed they still have more than 3,700 of their members in the whole province. While most of them are already registered like him, some are still willing to be counted in the incoming elections.
“Dapat kaming bumaba galing sa bundok, maka-rehistro kami para maisali kami kung ano ang mga benefits na ibigay ng gobyerno,” he added.
Like any other Moro in Lanao del Norte, Saomay wanted his place to be included in the Bangsamoro Organic Law. That is why he will be voting “yes” during the plebiscite on January.
In the provision of the BOL, six municipalities in Lanao del Norte are included in the Bangsamoro area: Tagoloan, Balo-i, Pantar, Munai, Tangcal, and Nunungan.
However, Lanao del Norte’s First District Congressman Khalid Dimaporo Lanao del Norte 1st District Rep. Mohamad Khalid Dimaporo on Wednesday said he is ready to take up the cudgels against the inclusion of the six Lanao del Norte towns in the envisioned Bangsamoro region, and question its constitutionality before the Supreme Court (SC), if needed. But Dimaporo said he is also ready to accept whatever the decision of the High Tribunal would be.
In a public hearing on the Bangsamoro Basic Law in March in Tubod, Lanao del Norte, Dimaporo said it is important that the people decide on the fate of its six municipalities which voted to be included in the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in a 2001 plebiscite.
Dimaporo said the 2001 plebiscite cannot be used under the BBL because ARMM will be demolished under the BBL, hence the need for a new plebiscite.- Divina Suson/NewsLine
