Who is the “legitimate winner” in the recent first parliamentary election in the BARMM?

Certainly, it is the UBJP!

Arrayed against almost insurmountable odds, the UBJP won 30 seats in Parliament, falling just one seat short of taking the lead. Had it not been for the alleged massive cheating in Cotabato City—not to mention the violence perpetrated by one party—it could have handily captured the other two seats in the city.

To gauge the extent of the UBJP’s popular support—and its capacity to win decisively—one need only look at how its sectoral candidates fared. All the other parties were shut out, including the BFP, the party of the government.

A Cotabato City-based lawyer, Benny Bacani, reportedly once commented that the only way the UBJP could be defeated at the polls would be through the other parties’ resorting to massive cheating and the use of terrorism. Indeed, this happened, as opined.

Unprecedented pre-shading of ballots, aside from Cotabato City, allegedly took place in almost every area where local government executives were allied with the BFP.

Worse, the shooting spree in Cotabato City, which left five people dead and 53 wounded, was a massacre. The perpetrators, however, remain free.

Many of these incidents were reportedly witnessed or documented by the 108 election monitors and observers, composed of international and national representatives, who were in the BARMM a day or two before the polls. Certainly, whether official or otherwise, their reports would matter.