Maguindanao execs form new peace-oriented bloc

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Stakeholders in the Mindanao peace process are optimistic of a more peaceful Maguindanao in days to come following Thursday's regrouping of local executives into a solid peace advocacy bloc.

In a statement Saturday, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Quintos-Deles said the gesture of the local officials, who belong to the Association of Lumad, Iranun and Maguindanaon Leaders (ALIM), will boost the efforts of the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front to restore normalcy in Maguindanao's 36 towns.

Mayors, vice-mayors, and members of the provincial board took turns reaffirming their commitment to the GPH-MILF peace efforts and their readiness to help oversee the government's now 18-year ceasefire accord with the rebel group during ALIM's 2nd grand assembly on Thursday at the Al-Nor Convention Center in Cotabato City.

"The Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process is thankful to all members of this organization and to its two main benefactors, Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu and Vice Gov. Lester Sinsuat," Deles was quoted as saying in an official communique emailed by OPAPP's Mindanao Press Office in Cotabato City. 

The pledging session of the local officials capped off the group's assembly, which was also attended by Maguindanao Rep. Sandra Sema and two representatives of the province to the 24-seat Regional Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Speaker Ronnie Sinsuat and Assemblyman Khadafy Mangudadatu.

The assembly, where participants discussed vital security concerns, was presided over by Sema, Gov. Mangudadatu and the Vice Gov. Sinsuat, who is ALIM's present chairman.

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Gov. Mangudadatu and the vice governor both said they are for the speedy enactment of the draft BBL, the enabling measure for the creation of a Bangsamoro entity based on the final peace compact between the government and the MILF.

Once enacted into law and ratified through a plebiscite, the Bangsamoro bill will pave the way for the replacement of ARMM with an MILF-led more politically and administratively empowered Bangsamoro self-governing entity.

A senior member of the provincial board, lawyer Bobby Katambak, one of the organizers of the ALIM assembly, said the event was meant to disprove assertions by cynics that local officials in Maguindanao are fragmented on their positions on the government's on-going peace overture with the MILF.

ALIM members agreed during their assembly to unite and help each other sustain the momentum of the on-going recovery of the province from devastation wrought by decades of secessionist conflicts.

Maguindanao is host to more than 50 government-acknowledged MILF enclaves covered by the group's July 1997 ceasefire pact with government.

Sinsuat had told reporters the gathering of ALIM members was also to disprove spreading rumors that he and the provincial governor, now the group's chairman emeritus, have become estranged due to irreconcilable political differences.

"There is no truth to that. We cannot be separated politically because we have the same visions of peace and development and we are related to each other by blood," the vice governor said.

Major Gen. Edmundo Pangilinan, commander of the Army's 6th Infantry Division, said the promise of ALIM members to help enforce the GPH-MILF ceasefire in their respective communities will bolster the cordiality between the military and guerilla forces in Maguindanao.

Pangilinan said the 36 mayors in Maguindanao have the power and resources, as provided for by the Local Government Code, to help the 6th ID, along with the MILF's ceasefire committee, peacefully address all domestic peace and security issues besetting their respective municipalities.