Misleading

A senior leader of the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF), the armed wing of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), clarified Thursday that members who will not vote the front’s candidates in the 2022 elections can not be immediately expelled from the organization, in reaction to a misleading post circulated on social media.

A Facebook post claimed that BIAF-MILF members who will not vote all the candidates endorsed or supported by the United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP), the MILF’s political party, will automatically be removed from the organization.

Speaking in Filipino, Toks Ebrahim, chief of the BIAF Administrative Department, cited the ballot secrecy law in refuting the claim.

“We have directed our members to vote the candidates fielded by our political party. However, we would not know who will they actually vote because of the secrecy of the ballots come election day,” Ebrahim explained on the phone.

Hence, to say that BIAF-MILF members who will not vote the UBJP candidates can be automatically removed from the roster is misleading because we have no way of determining whom they will have voted, he noted.

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MindaNews is the news service arm of the Mindanao Institute of Journalism. It is composed of independent, professional journalists who believe and practice people empowerment through media.

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