(UPDATED) If only for the statistically improbable zero votes received by 18 senatorial candidates, including those from the opposition who enjoy high levels of public awareness like Panfilo Lacson, Benigno Aquino III and even Alan Peter Cayetano, Maguindanao’s election results ought to be held with much suspicion.

Compared to the poll results from the rest of the provinces in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), the outcome from the province is an anomaly. Why? Because even senatorial race last-placers Ruben Enciso, Eduardo Orpilla, Victor Wood, and Felix Cantal — virtual unknowns except for Wood — all garnered votes in Lanao del Sur, Shariff Kabunsuan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, and Basilan.

And considering how the rest of Muslim Mindanao voted, Bukidnon Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri’s emergence as top vote-getter in the Maguindanao polls is also suspect — in the same way that Luis “Chavit” Singson’s 194,242 votes (second to Zubiri’s) are, the former Ilocos Sur governor placing nowhere near the Top 12 in the canvassed results of the five other ARMM provinces.

Though he may be a genuine son of Mindanao, Zubiri wasn’t the top choice of his Muslim brothers and sisters outside of Maguindanao. As voting results clearly showed, it was Team Unity’s Jamalul Kiram who consistently took the top spot, losing out only to Genuine Opposition’s Loren Legarda in Basilan by 94 votes, and to fellow TU candidate Edgardo Angara in Shariff Kabunsuan. Kiram came in third behind Legarda.

Zubiri only placed fourth in Lanao del Sur, fifth in Shariff Kabunsuan, sixth in Sulu, eighth in Basilan, and 11th in Tawi-Tawi. His TU teammate, actor Cesar Montano, even managed to finish better than the three-term Bukidnon congressman in the latter three ARMM provinces, landing a respectable third in Basilan and Sulu, and fourth in Tawi-Tawi.

Below are tables comparing Zubiri’s votes with those of the top five senatorial candidates in the five ARMM provinces.

• Lanao del Sur

• Shariff Kabunsuan

• Sulu

• Tawi-Tawi

• Basilan