Sinsuat breaks silence, locks horns with BARMM

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) on Wednesday, August 30, called out former Maguindanao vice governor Fatima Ainee Sinsuat as she broke her silence and reasserted her claim to the gubernatorial post of Maguindanao del Norte.

Sinsuat, the last vice governor of the now-defunct Maguindanao province, sparked a war of words when she gave a message on National Heroes’ Day on Monday to acknowledge the efforts of the police and military in maintaining peace and order in Maguindanao del Norte ahead of the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections.

But then Sinsuat insisted that she has reassumed as acting governor of Maguindanao del Norte based on a recent Supreme Court (SC) ruling on her petition for a mandamus writ.

The writ compels the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF) and BARMM to install a provincial treasurer for Maguindanao del Norte as sought by Sinsuat, who claimed the gubernatorial post after the 2022 Maguindanao plebiscite.

She filed the petition early this year, before President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. appointed her as officer-in-charge/vice governor, and Abdulraof Macacua as OIC-governor of Maguindanao del Norte.

Sinsuat said she wanted to correct an injustice because “I was deprived.”

She said she was “fighting for her right which was suppressed” by the BARMM’s Ministry of the Interior and Local Government (MILG).

“They insisted that my reassumption is illegal, but the Supreme Court has decided, and now they are diverting the argument,” Sinsuat said.

Sinsuat’s pronouncement didn’t sit well with the BARMM spokesman and Interior Minister Naguib Sinarimbo who said her statement was inappropriate to give a National Heroes’ Day statement with a “focus on personal interests.”

Sinarimbo referred back to a meeting in Davao City, where the Office of the President supposedly made it clear to the families of Sinsuat and Sharifudin Mastura that Marcos would exercise his prerogative to appoint officials for the newly created province.

Sinarimbo said Sinsuat and Mastura subsequently took their oath of office in Buluan, Maguindanao del Sur, as governor and vice-governor, respectively. 

“Then they sent a letter to our office in MILG, claiming leadership, but Malacañang was unaware of this,” he said.

Sinarimbo said these events occurred before Sinsuat’s filing of her mandamus petition in February. 

He said Sinsuat later accepted her appointment as OIC-vice governor by Marcos and “on several occasions, Bai Ainee Sinsuat expressed her support and compliments to Governor Macacua and President Marcos.”

“Real heroes are those who have one word,” Sinarimbo said. – Rappler.com