Maguindanao del Norte’s town swears in Barangay, SK officials

COTABATO CITY — Elected officials of the 13 barangays in what is now popular for being the "most peaceful town" in Maguindanao del Norte took oath on Friday and pledged to make the area become the new investment hub in the Bangsamoro region.

The newly-elected barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan officials in Maguindanao del Norte’s seaside Datu Blah Sinsuat municipality were sworn into office by Bangsamoro Local Government Minister Naguib Sinarimbo at a commercial function facility not too distant from the capitol here of the autonomous regional government.

Officials of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, the Army’s 6th Infantry Division and the Philippine Navy’s 1st Marine Brigade that have personnel in Datu Blah Sinsuat had earlier reported that the October 30 elections in the municipality, located at the western side of Maguindanao del Norte, was the most peaceful in the entire province.

Datu Blah Sinsuat is now also known in the Bangsamoro region as “the new fishing capital” of Maguindanao del Norte province that has more than a dozen municipalities, some of which are locked in deadly clan wars involving Moro clans.

Sinarimbo said that the mayor of Datu Blah Sinsuat, Marshall Sinsuat, municipal personnel of the Commission on Elections, the local police and military units in the area together kept law and order in all polling precincts during last week’s electoral exercise.

Sinarimbo said that the Ministry of the Interior and Local Government-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao shall provide the newly-elected Datu Blah Sinsuat barangay and SK officials with essential capacity-building interventions for them to effectively govern their constituent-communities.

A number of capitalists from other regions and in Metro Manila had earlier expressed intention of setting up fuel depots in the beachfronts in Datu Blah Sinsuat.

Residents of Datu Blah Sinsuat have an average daily catch of six to seven tons of fishes, including exotic species like grouper, or Lapu-Lapu, albacore, which is called Tanguige in most southern vernaculars, and Malasugi, or blue Marlin.