COTABATO CITY — A large bloc of political leaders in the Bangsamoro Region on Thursday welcomed a Supreme Court (SC) ruling that barred a plebiscite for the creation of three new towns in Maguindanao del Norte for being illegal.
The tribunal earlier ordered the Commission on Elections to do away with the plebiscite next month as part of the process to create the Datu Sinsuat Balabaran, Sheik Abas Hamza and Nuling municipalities based on three separate measures passed by the 80-member Bangsamoro Parliament.
Two of the three bills aim to establish the Datu Sinsuat Balabaran and Sheik Abas Hamza towns that will cover areas inside Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte. The third bill sets up Nuling town out of several villages in Sultan Kudarat in the same province.
Local officials questioned before the High Court the plebiscites involving only voters in villages to be covered by the three proposed municipalities.
“The court ruled that qualified voters from both the new and mother municipalities should be included in the plebiscites,” the Supreme Court’s Public Information Office announced on Tuesday. — John Felix M. Unson
