Bangsamoro chief votes in Maguindanao

By ASA T. MADALE
May 14, 2019

BARMM Interim Chief Minister Ahod 'Al Haj Murad' Ebrahim,

ILIGAN CITY: Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Interim Chief Minister Ahod “Al Haj Murad” Ebrahim cast his vote on Monday afternoon for the 2019 mid-term polls at Simuay Junction Elementary School in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao, where he is a registered voter. 

Ebrahim upon emerging from his voting center told reporters that he wisely chose his preferred candidates with guidelines, he picked up from President Rodrigo R. Duterte. 

“I have cast my vote with the guideline I picked up from President Rodrigo Duterte in connection with this election,” he said. 

When pressed further on the matter, Ebrahim said he remembered the President saying voters should choose candidates based on their track record and their stand on issues affecting the country.

“I remember well the President saying to choose the people based on what they have so far done for the welfare of the people and I just did that through my vote,” he said. 

Monday’s election was the second for Ebrahim, with the first one taking place last Jan. 21, at the same school as his voting center for the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law that created the new BARMM entity. 

“This day (Monday) though is my first time that I participated and voted for political candidates in an election,” he said with a smile. 

Before becoming the BARMM interim head, Ebrahim, through his nom de guerre -- “Al Haj Murad” --headed the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), formerly the largest Moro rebel group in Mindanao. 

He went out of school at the age of 19 to join the mainstream Moro National Liberation Front but later bolted to join the MILF with Islamic theologian and MILF founder Salamat Hashim due to political differences with MNLF founder Nur Misuari. 

Ebrahim took over the MILF leadership following the death of Salamat in July 2003 due to a lingering illness. 

The Chief Minister also underscored that the primary advocacy of the BARMM is moral governance.

He said that if moral governance is achieved, everything else will follow. "And the evil, including vote buying, will be eradicated," Ebrahim said. (ATM/RSP)