Shariff Kabunsuan creation plebiscite, 2006
The Shariff Kabunsuan creation plebiscite was a plebiscite on the creation of the Province of Shariff Kabunsuan from Maguindanao province in the Philippines. The results were announced on October 31, 2006.
Gov. Datu Zaldy Ampatuan of ARMM and his father, Gov. Datu Andal Ampatuan of Maguindanao, earlier campaigned for the conception of Shariff Kabunsuan to better extend government services to their constituents, particularly those in the precipitous parts of the area.[1]
Ampatuan signed Regional Legislative Assembly Bill No. 445, seeking the creation of the new province, on September 7, 2006. This paved the way for the plebiscite.
There are talks Maguindanao Vice Governor Bimbo Sinsuat will be named caretaker of the youngest local government unit in the country.
Sinsuat himself declined to comment when asked to comment on reports that the regional governor had chosen him to head the new province.[2]
Those who voted for the ratification of the ARMM law which created Shariff Kabunsuan was more than 60 percent of the total registered voters in the province.
It will be the first ever province created by the region’s legislature.
Under the ARMM’s charter, the Regional Assembly can create barangays, towns and provinces as long as the new set up would not alter the geographical and political territories of any of the region’s eight congressional districts.
Its creation was authored by the 24-seat Regional Assembly in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) which will cover all of the 10 towns in the first district of Maguindanao.[3]
Referendum question
The Shariff Kabunsuan creation plebiscite was supervised and officiated by the COMELEC pursuant to Resolution No. 7727.
The question of the said plebiscite was:
DO YOU APPROVE OF THE CREATION OF THE PROVINCE OF SHARIFF KABUNSUAN, INTO A DISTINCT AND INDEPENDENT PROVINCE COMPRISING THE MUNICIPALITIES OF BARIRA, BULDON, DATU ODIN SINSUAT, KABUNTALAN, MATANOG, PARANG, SULTAN KUDARAT, SULTAN MASTURA, UPI AND DATU BLAH T. SINSUAT IN THE PROVINCE OF MAGUINDANAO, PURSUANT TO MMA ACT NO. 201?
Results
| Option | Votes |
|---|---|
| In favor for creation | 285,372 |
| Against the creation | 8,802 |
The following municipalities seceded from Maguindanao and formed the new province. All of them were from the first legislative district of Maguindanao.
Kabuntalan was chosen as the capital of the new province.
The province was the first to be created under Republic Act No. 9054 or the Expanded ARMM law.
