Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao Del Norte— Nine of the 12 mayors in Maguindanao del Norte belied on Wednesday, October 9, the allegations made by rival quarters against Special Assistant to the President Antonio Lagdameo Jr., whom they alleged as meddling with politics in the province to suit their vested interests.

The mayors explained during a forum in Cotabato City, that there is no truth to assertions by adversarial politicians about what is for them interference in local politics by Lagdameo and South Cotabato Gov. Reynaldo Tamayo Jr., who is president of the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas, or PFP.

The PFP is an ally of the United Bangsamoro Justice Party, or UBJP, which was founded in 2019, or thereabouts, by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front as a political conduit for spreading peace and sustainable development in the provinces and cities in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, a Philstar report said, Wednesday.

Mayor Ramil Dilangalen of Northern Kabuntalan said that Lagdameo became the target of unfounded accusations by non-UBJP politicians immediately after he helped unite last week, in a gathering in Davao City, all nine of them and two non-UBJP mayors, who then agreed to have common candidates for governor and vice governor of Maguindanao del Norte in next year’s electoral exercise. There is no truth to that assertion, he said.

Dilangalen said the newly-formed Maguindanao political bloc that Lagdameo helped establish will pit Mayors Tucao Mastura of Sultan Kudarat and Marshal Sinsuat of Datu Blah Sinsuat as its candidate for Maguindanao del Norte governor and vice governor, respectively.

Mastura and Sinsuat are to contest the candidacy for Maguindanao del Norte governor of Suharto Mangudadatu, former executive director of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, and his running mate.

Mayor Cahar Ibay of Parang town said it is not strange for Lagdameo and Tamayo to fuse ranks and unite the mayors in Maguindanao del Norte since both of them are officials of the PFP.

Zohria Saglayan Bansil-Guro and Pahmia Aratuc Manalao, mayors of the adjoining Matanog and Buldon towns, respectively, separately told reporters that there is no truth either in stories being circulated by certain quarters that Lagdameo has coerced them into forming the political bloc, along with two non-UBJP mayors, now supporting the Mastura and Sinsuat tandem, the Philstar report also said.

Meanwhile, BARMM Chief Minister Ahod “Al Haj Murad” Ebrahim and other leaders in the region rejected the allegations, asserting that no coercion or harassment had occurred during the gathering of BARMM mayors in Davao City, a Rappler.com report said Thursday. 

“These libelous claims are entirely fabricated and filled with ill-intent,” said Ebrahim.