By Earl Jed Roque/PNA
MANILA — Malacañang on Tuesday dismissed Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria Sison’s claims against the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) plebiscite, calling it a “delusional analysis”.
Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo made this remark after Sison said the BOL would be ratified in the plebiscite due to President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s alleged coercive influence.
“Jose Ma. Sison is once again talking nonsense by engaging in a delusional analysis on a political event that further exposes his blissful ignorance,” Panelo said in a statement.
Panelo said the ratification of the BOL through a plebiscite will be done with the people’s desire and not by force as alleged by Sison.
“The voters will ratify the BOL, as we hope and expect, not because of vote buying and presidential coercive influence, as falsely claimed by Sison, but due to the electorate’s belief that its ratification will yield the long-desired growth and development that remains elusive in Mindanao,” Panelo said.
The plebiscite on the ratification of the BOL was held on Monday in the five provinces of Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) — Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi — and the cities of Cotabato and Isabela.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) reportedly set on Wednesday the canvassing of votes after no certificates of canvass (COCs) were delivered on Tuesday to the Comelec’s head office in Intramuros, Manila.
Other areas in the proposed Bangsamoro entity will have their plebiscite on February 6.
The BOL, previously known as the Bangsamoro Basic Law and considered as one of Duterte’s biggest legislative achievements, seeks to give the Moro people basic legal tools to chart their own destiny within the country’s Constitutional framework.
