KIDAPAWAN CITY -- Five provincial governors and more than a hundred Muslim mayors in the politically-turbulent south are prepared to swear en masse over the Qur'an to abide by the Omnibus Election Code to ensure peaceful and honest elections in their respective areas in May 2010.

Lawyer Oscar Sampulna, executive secretary of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm), said the region's inter-agency peace and order council want the event witnessed by the regional police director and representatives of the military.

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In an interview, Mayor Lampa Pandi of Poona Bayabao, an interior town in the first district of Lanao del Sur, said they are to submit a manifesto to the Armm's governor, Datu Zaldy Ampatuan, stipulating their willingness to swear over the Qur'an that they are to religiously adhere to the policies of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) during the election period, which starts this month with the filing of certificates of candidacy by aspirants for various elective positions.

"That will not be a difficult thing to do because all of us in the Armm, from our regional governor, down to the provincial governors, mayors, vice mayors, provincial board members and town councilors all belong the administration's Lakas-Kampi-CMD," said Pandi, who, as a physician, had served as Armm's regional secretary prior to his election as mayor of Poona-Bayabao in 2007.

Pandi said mayors from Lanao del Sur, led by their provincial Governor Mamintal Adiong Jr., will pledge to help ensure peaceful elections in their respective areas to the Armm's police director Paisal Umpa and Armm Governor Ampatuan during state-of-the region address (Sora) slated on November 9 in Cotabato City.

Sampulna, who is Ampatuan's spokesman, said the Sora will focus on the Mindanao peace process and his administration's effort to foster solidarity among the region's Muslim and Christian residents.

Sampulna said local executives who will be at the Sora will also pledge en masse before the Armm governor to abide by the Comelec's rules and regulations that would govern next year's synchronized local and national elections.

In an interview, Armm Speaker Rejie Sahali-Generale, who is overseeing the preparations for the Sora, said they are expecting national officials, representatives from the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, and diplomats from member-states of the Organization of Islamic Conference and the European Union to grace the event.