Commission on Audit: Maguindanao programs deserve praise

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Audit (COA) has lauded the provincial government of Maguindanao led by Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu for taking “bolder steps” in improving the image of the province and the lives of its constituents.

In a 2011 audit report, COA said Maguindanao’s new officials deserve to be congratulated for their initial success in attaining their eight-point agenda in reducing poverty and improving infrastructure, education, and health services.

State auditors specifically lauded Maguindanao officials for their carabao dispersal program for the poorest of the poor in six municipalities last year.

The oil palm and rubber seedling distribution program of the province was also cited as a laudable poverty reduction program.

The COA report also took note of Maguindanao’s monthly medical assistance to inmates, the Serbisyong Medikal para sa Masa, and the Maguindanao Program on Educational Assistance and Community Empowerment (MagPeace) as undertakings that deserve commendation.

“It is highly recommended that the provincial government of Maguindanao continue with projects of this nature and to cover a much greater number of its population so as to have a bigger impact on the lives of the Maguindanaons, more particularly those that are seldom reached by the services of the government,” COA said.

“We find these major steps as very vital in the attainment of its vision of a developed and economically productive Maguindanao, where educated and healthy men and women harmoniously co-exist in a culture of peace and sound environment anchored on committed leadership, upholding the principles of participatory governance,” it added.

Mangudadatu, who was elected into office in May 2010, rules over the province once controlled by members of the Ampatuan clan who are now facing trial for the massacre of 57 people, mostly journalists, in November 2009.