Cotabato City

New Cotabato City mayor creates offices of 4 deputy mayors

Rommel Rebollido

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New Cotabato City mayor creates offices of 4 deputy mayors

NEW MAYOR. Cotabato City Mayor Bruce Matabalao gives a hand sign as he assumes his post on Thursday, June 30.

United Bangsamoro Justice Party

Cotabato City Mayor Bruce Matabalao makes the announcement as he assumes his post amid protests from the group of former mayor Cynthia Guiani Sayadi which questioned the results of the May elections in the Bangsamoro region's capital

GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines – Cotabato City’s new mayor promised to end what he called the culture of fear and obstructionism in the city even as he announced that four deputy mayors would help him run the affairs of the local government.

Mayor Bruce Matabalao made the announcement as he took over as Cotabato City’s leader on Thursday, June 30, amid protests from the group of former mayor Cynthia Guiani Sayadi which questioned the results of the May elections in the capital of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

Matabalao said the deputy mayors would handle four clusters: the Bangsamoro, indigenous peoples, Filipino-Chinese, and descendants of non-Mindanao settlers from Luzon and the Visayas in the 20th century. He has yet to announce his picks.

“Cotabato will be seeing a new brand of leadership,” he said.

Matabalao’s assumption of duty followed his days of silence and keeping away from public view, and put an end to speculations that city hall would not see its new head taking over on June 30.

The new mayor, Vice Mayor Butch Abu, and seven of their allies in the city council assumed their posts in simple inauguration rites at the People’s Palace in this city.

The officials are members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s (MILF) United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP) who took their oath before BARMM interim Chief Minister Ahod Balawag “Al Haj Murad” Ebrahim on Thursday. It was the second time for them to take their oath since the early part of June.

Some P845 million had been set aside by the BARMM to help its capital city build roads and a drainage network, improve its ports, put in place solar street lights, and provide 400 houses for indigents.

BARMM Interior Minister Naguib Sinarimbo said the regional government was committed to helping Cotabato City become a cosmopolitan area.

Former mayor Sayadi, who did not see eye to eye with Ebrahim and BARMM officials, was unseated in a tension-filled election in May. Matabalao won 29,818 votes against Sayadi’s 22,939.

Sayadi’s camp rejected the election outcome and petitioned the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to void the election results in 36 clustered precincts. The group also sought a recount of the votes in 17 clustered precincts in the city. 

The Comelec would start the hearings on the petition in Manila on July 6. – Rappler.com

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