Former Comelec chief wins Cotabato City 1st district representative race

MANILA, Philippines — Former Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairperson Sheriff Abas has won the representative race in the first district of Cotabato City for the first Bangsamoro Parliamentary elections with over 12,000 votes. 

According to the data server of election watchdog Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting as of 3:51 p.m. on Tuesday, Abas obtained 12,334 votes. This is 57.8 percent of the total 21,356 votes cast in the district. 

Abas ran under United Bangsamoro Justice Party, the political party of Moro Islamic Liberation Front. 

Abas’ rivals Romeo Sema and Danilo Liggayo obtained 8,676 votes and 346 votes, respectively.

In a Facebook post early Tuesday morning, Abas thanked the constituent who supported and voted for him. 

Meanwhile, Abas was the subject of a show cause order (SCO) issued by the Comelec over the weekend due to allegations of vote-buying ahead of the parliamentary elections. He was asked to explain why a complaint or election offense or petition for disqualification should not be filed against him. 

In issuing the SCO, Comelec’s Committee on Kontra Bigay cited a Facebook post showing a photo of a sample ballot with “VOTE #3 SA BALOTA ATTY. SHERIFF ABAS” along with three P1,000 bills.

In a separate Facebook post last Saturday, Abas called on the public to verify information and to avoid spreading false information. 

“Walang lugar ang fake news at paninira sa halalan. Kung may alegasyon, idaan sa tamang proseso at sa COMELEC, hindi sa social media,” he wrote. 

(Fake news has no place in elections. If there are allegations, course it through proper process and Comelec, and not in social media.)

Abas was Comelec chairperson from 2017 to 2022. He was the first Comelec chief from Mindanao. /mr