By JULES M. BENITEZ
MindaNews
BONGAO, Tawi-tawi.—After last Monday’s election, the hotly contested Turtle Islands in this province is now under the control of an ally of the governor, who has come under fire for buying one of the islands.
The Turtle Islands are a group of seven islets just a hop away from Sandakan in Malaysia in the southernmost tip of the country. The islets are a protected area, a sanctuary and nesting ground of the endangered giant turtles.
Elected Turtle Islands mayor was Lakas-CMD candidate Mibaral M. Tang who got nearly 70 percent of the total 2,887 votes cast. Tang is returning to the post, which he lost to incumbent mayor Omarkhan H. Aripin of the Nacionalista Party in 2007. This time around, it was Aripin who was defeated.
The change of administration in this town of 5,299 registered voters is controversial as the rivals accused each other of employing tactics to disenfranchise supporters who tried to register in 2009. The voter registration period here was marred by armed violence.
The election-related violence took place amid questions over the sale of the islet called Great Bakkungan (sometimes spelled Bacungan) to the children of Tawi-tawi Gov. Sadikul A. Sahali. A certain Rolando Tan, who claims to be Great Bakkungan’s original owner, sold the island for P3 million to the Sahali children.
But the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the municipal government led by Aripin contested the sale, arguing that the islands are public land and part of a protected area, and therefore could not be sold.
The Turtle Islands are composed of Boan, Lihiman, Langaan, Great Bakkungan, Taganak, Baguan and one nameless island. The town center is in Taganak Isle.
These islets hold multimillion-peso potential for eco-tourism as a diving site and for their pristine white beaches only an hour by boat to neighboring Malaysia.
The governor has issued a public statement saying his children were no longer interested in owning the purchased islet, but that they will retain administrative rights over it.
Pre-election violence
On Oct. 28, 2009, the AFP Western Mindanao Command reported a shootout in Turtle Islands following a heated argument between Aripin and a retired police officer during the registration of voters.
Residents, however, said it was more than a shootout.
Haimel Bidoy, a Turtle Islands councilor, said in a sworn affidavit filed with the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), “At about 5:45 in the morning of October 26, 2009, we heard and saw (that) Jabbar Sahibil, Hadji Umbilang Gampal, Hadji Imran Gampal, along with other armed men … fired at the dwellings in our barangay and started to loot.”
Jabbar Sahibil is said to be the caretaker of the governor’s properties on Great Bakkungan.
The firing, witnesses said, lasted more than five hours and ended at 11 a.m.
The following day, some 50 to 75 armed men in full battle gear arrived on the island aboard two speed boats, one of which witnesses identified as “Thunderbull,” which is owned by the governor. The men were later identified as provincial guards.
The naval forces of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Western Mindanao Command conducted interdiction operations to prevent the escalation of violence.
Bidoy said over 100 families were forced to evacuate to safer ground in the neighboring islets. Others fled to nearby Sabah, Malaysia. Eleven of them traveled to Zamboanga City to seek refuge and to bring the incident to the attention of the CHR.
Elmina Adil, barangay captain of the Poblacion, said in her affidavit that the intention of the armed men was “to harass the residents for them to abandon the place.”
Tawi-tawi provincial police director Mipunud S. Marohom told MindaNews “there were no casualties” in these incidents.
As a response to the residents’ complaints, the CHR in Zamboanga City filed a case against the governor and several officials for grave threats, grave coercion and expulsion. A subpoena dated Jan. 29 was sent to the governor, asking him and his fellow respondents to answer the accusations. The governor has yet to respond to the case.
Disenfranchisement of voters
In an interview before the elections, Haidith Astarani, a Shariah lawyer here, said he foresaw massive disenfranchisement of voters in favor of the incumbent governor and his local candidate as a result of the armed harassment.
Astarani also said religious leaders in the area have reported that non-residents were recruited to Turtle Islands to serve as occupants of Great Bakkungan.
Countering the accusations of election manipulation, the governor charged that it was armed men under the control of Aripin that were “attacking” his people in Great Bakungan.
“The purpose there is to control that area come elections. Why don’t we let the people decide who their leaders want to be” the governor was quoted as saying.
Sahali, who ran for reelection, also overwhelmingly won in the Turtle Islands garnering 71.29 percent of the votes. He also won the provincial elections by a slim margin of 3,304 votes to his nearest rival Rashidin Matba of the Nationalist People’s Coalition. Sahali’s daughter Ruby Sahali-Tan was also reelected vice governor.
Bidoy, who also ran for re-election as town councilor but was unable to cast his vote and lost, said some 500 voters supporting him and Aripin were disenfranchised. He said the provincial governor helped their rival Tang by sending 150 armed men who arrived in the island aboard the M/L Princess Juana a few days before the elections.
Capt. Erick Kagaon, Commander of Naval Task Force 62 of the Philippine Navy, said he has received information about the “150 armed men allegedly sent by the governor to Turtle Islands a few days before the election.” But when his men arrived in the area, “wala naman silang nakitang armed men (they didn’t see any armed men).”
Even Aripin himself was not able to personally campaign for re-election and was also unable to vote, since he is evading a pending warrant of arrest for a 2008 murder case involving illegal fishers. The case did not prosper in court but was revived prior to the election period. The mayor sees this as political harassment.
Voter turnout in the Turtle Islands was nearly 55 percent. Of the 5,299 registered voters of the Island, only 2,887 were able to cast their votes.
Turtle Islands election officer Derwin Salasa refused to comment on the issue of voters’ disenfranchisement, saying the voter turnout was “more or less the same as the provincial average.” Comelec data indicated a 70.87-percent turnout at the provincial level.
Kagaon said the election in Turtle Islands was successfully conducted and was peaceful. Kagaon, who sits in the Provincial Joint Security Center that was organized to secure the elections in the province, said a navy ship patrolled the seas around the islands while 20 marines were deployed in the municipality to augment the 19 ground security personnel during election day.—with reports from Vemma Antham