UBJP bet defeats BARMM deputy speaker in Lanao del Sur 4th District race
COTABATO CITY, Philippines – Lampa Pandi, United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP) candidate and ex-mayor of Poona Bayabao town in Lanao del Sur, has won the electoral race in his province’s 4th District.
Pandi received 38,505 or 50.48% of his district’s votes, according to Lanao del Sur’s total certificates of canvass on the Commission on Elections’ website.
He barely defeated Bangsamoro Parliament Deputy Speaker Amenodin Sumagayan, whose family holds power in the municipality of Taraka. Running as the candidate of the Serbisyong Inklusibo-Alyansang Progresibo Party, Sumagayan — a former mayor of Taraka — obtained 37,707 or 49.44% of the votes, a difference of less than a thousand votes from Pandi’s votes.
The bottom two candidates in the race are engineer Camal Abdul, the bet of the Progresibong Bangsamoro Party, and independent candidate Johari Comadug.
According to Pandi’s Facebook page, he was Poona Bayabao mayor from 2007 to 2016. He previously served as assistant and officer-in-charge regional health secretary of BARMM’s predecessor, the now-defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. – Rappler.com
