COTABATO CITY — A major upset has jolted the more than 70 years old leadership of the Datu Odin Sinsuat (DOS) Municipality in the Bangsamoro region.
It happened in the midterm polls on May 12, when Mayor-elect Abdulmain Baba Abas defeated the incumbent, Mayor Lester Sinsuat, which surprised many people across the region, as it apparently shook the core of the municipality’s long held political leadership.
DOS was created as “Dinaig” Municipality by the-then President Manuel Roxas in December 1947, with the leadership held by a succession of the Sinsuat Clan. Except for a very brief period in 1986, with Hadji Mokamad Abas as the officer-in-charge (OIC), no other family has ruled the municipality which was renamed Datu Odin Sinsuat (DOS) in honor of its founding “father” and long-time mayor.
Until now, in this year’s National and Local Elections (NLE) with Baba Abas, a first cousin of Mohagher M. Iqbal, the surprise winner over the present mayor.
Mayor-elect Abas and his tandem, Vice Mayor-elect Bobsteel Sinsuat also won. They are candidates of the United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP), the political wing of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which for the first time formally participated in the country’s political exercise. Iqbal is vice president for Central Mindanao of the UBJP, and chair of the MILF’s Peace Implementing Panel (PIP).
The UBJP is headed by Al-Haj Murad Ebrahim, president, and chair of MILF Central Committee.
Distinguished leaders from DOS included Datu Duma Sinsuat, Datu Blah Sinsuat, Datu Mama Sinsuat, and, of course, Datu Odin Sinsuat himself, the “Father of DOS”, and others. Datu Odin was the first elected mayor of DOS, serving for 24 years. He retired from politics in 1971. The-then President Ferdinand E. Marcos, Sr. convinced the “Father of DOS” to return to politics who subsequently won in the election in 1976. He won again in 1988.
So, it won’t be surprising if the Sinsuat Clan would again be able to come back in future elections, some of the region’s political observers suggested.
It can be noted that candidates of the UBJP registered upsets in some hotly contested areas of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
UBJP’s candidates won in the gubernatorial races in Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur, Tawi-Tawi and in the mayoral contests in Cotabato City, in Datu Odin Sinsuat (DOS), among other areas.
Governors-elect Ali Midtimbang and Tucao Mastura’s twin victories in Maguindanao del Sur and Maguindanao del Norte, respectively, are nothing short of remarkable as they are bets of the neophyte UBJP, a first timer in politics, some of its bets able to win with arguably lesser resources on May 12. Re-electionist Mayor Mohammad Bruce Matabalao’s victory in Cotabato City had an air of confidence from the get-go, beating his once ally former vice mayor Butch Abu.
Midtimbang and Mastura, of the prominent political clans of the once undivided Maguindanao won over the dynasty of Gov. Mariam S. Mangudadatu and her husband, Suharto “Teng” Mangudadatu, also known political family in the province. But you can’t count as the Mangudadatu couple out, they’ll surely be back.
But among these UBJP victories in the midterm polls, nothing, according to local political observers, is more consequential than that of Mayor-elect Abas’s surprising triumph against the incumbent, a scion of the powerful Sinsuat Clan, in DOS Municipality.
Political observers in the region noted that one of the most crucial events that apparently turned the tide for Baba Abas is when there was an attempt to replace the Board of Electors of the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
This prompted the UBJP’s vice mayoral candidate Bobsteel Sinsuat to go live on Facebook calling for assistance. Hundreds came to the DOS Municipal Hall and prevented the replacements from coming out with the election paraphernalia. Voting was delayed because of the incident as members of the Marine and Philippine National Police (PNP) had to pacify a potentially violent turn of events.
Voters were able to cast their ballots only at about 2 p.m. By then, perhaps, the changing of the guard at DOS Municipality became inevitable.
The Sinsuat Clan has been ruling the municipality, formerly named “Dinaig” (meaning “unsubmissive) since its creation by Roxas 78 years ago through Executive Order No. 82 on August 18, 1947, according to datuodinsinsuat.gov.ph.
Now, a first-class municipality of Maguindanao del Norte, DOS has 34 barangays, with Poblacion Dalican as its seat of government. The municipality has the biggest number of registered voters in the province, with over 81,000.
It is understandable how painful, maybe, losing DOS to a mayor of another family, knowing that since its inception the municipality was ruled by a Sinsuat, except in very few instances.
That was the time when all the incumbent mayors were replaced through the appointment of OICs following the EDSA Revolution that toppled Marcos, Sr. On December 1, 1986, Noraya Ambolodto Sinsuat replaced OIC Hadji Mokamad Abas, also a close relative of Iqbal.
On December 15, 1994, the Regional Legislative Assembly (RLA) passed Muslim Mindanao Autonomy Act No. 29 that changed the name Dinaig to Datu Odin Sinsuat in honor of its first elected and long-time mayor.
But not all is lost for the Sinsuat Clan, the winning DOS vice mayor-elect is Bobsteel Sinsuat, and Marshall Sinsuat is the vice governor-elect of Maguindanao del Norte.
It is of note that Lester Sinsuat’s wife, Bai Ainee, also lost the vice mayoral race to Bobsteel Sinsuat.
As the heat of the political contest in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) still lingers in the air, Bangsamoro Chief Minister Abdulraof A. Macacua (UBJP secretary-general), Ebrahim and other UBJP leaders have called on their winning candidates to be humble and extend friendly and reconciliatory hands to their opponents. – PR ###
