GMA vows development for Mindanao

ILIGAN CITY — President Arroyo assured the people of Mindanao here yesterday that her administration’s focus will be on the economic development and pursuit of peace in the South.

"Proof of the administration’s concern for Minda-nao is that my selection of Teofisto Guingona as Vice President and most Cabinet members are from Minda-nao or have roots in the island," she said during a campaign sortie of senatorial candidates of the ruling People Power Coalition (PPC).

Mrs. Arroyo noted that both Guingona and Senate President Aquilino Pimentel Jr. are from Misamis Oriental, Public Works Secretary Simeon Datumanong is from Maguindanao, and Health Secretary Manolet Dayrit from Davao City.

Moreover, Executive Secretary Renato de Villa’s wife is from Zamboanga del Norte, while Presidential Adviser for Agricultural Modernization Lito Sarmiento and Presidential Assistant for Mindanao Paul Dominguez are also from Mindanao, she said.

Most members of the Government Reconciliation Panel (GRP) are also from the region like Jesus Dureza, Lanao del Sur Gov. Mahid Mutilan and former Mindanao State University president Dr. Emily Marohambsar, she added.

"Mindanao is well represented in my administration, and I am also from Iligan City," the President said, speaking in fluent Cebuano.

Mrs. Arroyo had spent several years here as a young girl in her ancestral home soon after the birth of a younger brother.

And true to her words of "leadership by example," the President placed yesterday her family’s ancestral landholding in this city under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.

She made the announcement during a meeting with a multisectoral group at the Dalipuga Resettlement project in Sitio Kalubihon in Barangay Dalipuga, Iligan City.

"All that my family needs would be about one hectare where their ancestral house now stands," Mrs. Arroyo said.

Arriving at the settlement yesterday morning with the PPC candidates, the President distributed house and lot ownership certificates to some 85 beneficiaries of the project.

She said she will strengthen the National Anti-Poverty Commission to address the problem of the poor, and at the same time called for the inventory of idle lands which may be used for socialized housing.

"Let us join hands in solving the problems of Mindanao, and at least we have already started finding solutions," Mrs. Arroyo said.

After noting that the 13-0 Supreme Court ruling affirmed the legitimacy of her presidency, she asked Iliganons to "join the millions of Filipinos who want a government with morals."

The President and her party of senatorial candidates then motored to Gingoog City for their next stop. –With Jose Rodel Clapano