Friday, April 27, 2007 AFP assures Comelec: Election will push through in Sulu By Ulysses E. Israel
THE Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has assured the Commission on Elections (Comelec) that election will push through in the island province of Sulu in May 2007, a Comelec official said.
Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento, who recently visited Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, said the military in Sulu has assured him that 10 days before the May 14 polls, all military offensive operations against terror groups--Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah--will cease to give displaced villagers time to go back to their homes and vote in their respective poll precincts.
Sarmiento said the cessation of military operations will give a chance to eligible voters to cast their votes.
However, he said the military will take a defensive mode and will be prepared to retaliate in case of attacks launched by the Abu Sayyaf or rouge members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).
The military is currently pursuing the Abu Sayyaf Group, Jemaah Islamiyah, and the renegade Moro rebel Ustadz Habier Malik and his men.
The successive offensives against Malik have reportedly displaced about 8,500 families who have sought shelter in safer places.
Sarmiento said those villagers fleeing the hostilities fear for their lives and were a cause for concern for Comelec in the coming May elections.
He said the military assured Comelec that the election would push through.
"Let's hope and pray that the military will be successful in ensuring what it promised," he said.
It was earlier reported that Sulu might be placed under Comelec control if the military offensive against the terror groups would continue to disrupt the civilian populace.
The military launched a military pursuit operation against the group of Malik after the latter launched mortar attacks against a military detachment and a municipal building wherein two Marine soldiers and a civilian were killed.
It has also stepped up offensives against the Abu Sayyaf led by Albader Parad following the execution and beheading of seven kidnapped victims.
