Marcos' Sulu sortie earns support from local execs, political blocs

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Local executives in Sulu expressed their satisfaction with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s visit to the island province on Friday, during which he acknowledged the peace and progress in the region.

Local officials, among them Gov. Abdusakur Mahail Tan Sr., were quoted in radio reports here on Sunday as saying that Marcos led on Friday the distribution in the provincial capitol compound in Patikul town of equipment and funds to local farmers affected by the recent drought caused by the El Niño phenomenon.

Marcos garnered more than 300,000 votes in Sulu during the May 2022 presidential elections while his closest rival, Leni Robledo, only had some 12,000 votes in the final tally of poll results from the 18 towns in the province, including its capital, Jolo.

Marcos, in a message to local executives while in Sulu, appreciated the peace and calm now felt in all four corners of the province. 

Sulu is one of the six provinces in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao that also covers three cities, Lamitan, Marawi and Cotabato, where its regional capitol is located.

Tan, figurehead of the regional Sallam political party, said he and his constituent-mayors, vice mayors, municipal councilors and members of their provincial board were happy with the President’s visit to Sulu on Friday.

Tan is the anointed candidate for regional chief minister in next year's first ever Bangsamoro parliamentary election of the influential BARMM Grand Coalition, most known as the BGC, that reportedly has more than 800,000 documented supporters and members now in the autonomous region.

The BGC is jointly led by Tan and his allies, including Basilan Congressman Mujiv Salliman Hataman, Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal Alonto Adiong Jr., and Maguindanao del Sur Gov. Mariam Sangki Mangudadatu, alongside her spouse, Suharto Tan Mangudadatu, who currently serves as the executive director of the Technical Education Skills and Development Authority.

Adiong, one of the leaders of the equally popular Serbisyong Inklusibo, Alyansang Progresibo, or SIAP regional political party, told reporters here via text message on Sunday that he and his partymates were elated with Marcos’ engagement with local executives in Sulu, for him good for efforts of local traders to convert the province into a potential investment hub.

“That could send positive signals to investors in different regions in Mindanao and abroad that commerce and trade in Sulu is indeed improving and that there were no security issues that prevented President Marcos from visiting the area for an official function,” Adiong said.

One of the objectives of the SIAP party, which has many members, among them prominent Maranao businessmen, who supported the candidacy of Marcos in 2022, is to foster peace and sustainable development in areas now bouncing back from armed conflicts through economic interventions needed to boost small and medium enterprises in the local communities.