MAGUINDANAO, Philippines - A beneficiary of the government’s conditional cash transfer program was one of residents in Maguindanao who promised to vote for presidential wannabe Manuel “Mar” Roxas II during his initial tours in the province and in Marawi City Tuesday.
Bai Sabdullah Sampulna, a resident of Pandag town in the second district of Maguindanao, urged Roxas to continue the implementation of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) if elected president during the May 2016 elections.
Roxas is the candidate for president of the administration’s Liberal Party (LP).
“I’m a fish vendor and I come from an indigent family. With 4Ps, I can now manage to send my children to school and buy medicines whenever one of them would get sick,” an emotional Sampulna told Roxas, in the presence of local leaders, among them Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu and Gov. Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
Sampulna, who spoke in mixed Filipino and ethnic Maguindanaon dialect, also told Roxas her family has also been benefiting from the government-subsidized health insurance packages for poor families.
Roxas, Hataman, Mangudadatu and more than 30 of Maguindanao’s 36 incumbent mayors held a dialogue at the provincial capital, Buluan town, on Tuesday afternoon.
Roxas was accompanied to Maguindanao by LP senatorial candidate Nariman Ina Ambolodto, who is of pure Maguindanaon descent.
Ambolodto spoke about her candidacy and plans to pursue if elected senator during a dialogue with hundreds of barangay captains from across Maguindanao, after their meeting with mayors in the province.
Maguindanao, which has two congressional districts, has 509 barangays scattered in 36 towns.
Also present in the separate dialogues among Roxas, local LP members and barangay officials in Maguindanao were Reps. Bai Sandra Sema and Zajid Mangudadatu of the first and second congressional districts of the province, respectively.
Roxas assured local officials he would continue Malacañang’s 4Ps program and its current peace and development initiatives in the autonomous region.
The ARMM covers Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, which are both in mainland Mindanao and the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.
The five ARMM provinces are LP bastions, where barangay officials are also known for their political loyalty to their respective mayors.
Gov. Mangudadatu said he was elated with the rousing welcome his constituent-mayors and barangay captains extended to Roxas during his sortie in Buluan town.
“I felt so glad seeing them come to one venue for a dialogue with our party’s presidential candidate,” Gov, Mangudadatu said.
In Marawi City, Roxas and Hataman were welcomed by thousands of supporters and local executives wearing yellow shirts.
Marawi City is the capital of Lanao del Sur, which has more than 40 towns, also known LP bailiwicks.
Hataman, regional LP figurehead for the autonomous region, said he was amazed with how party members in Marawi City, in Lanao del Sur and in Maguindanao manifested support for Roxas during his visit Tuesday.
Roxas also held a dialogue with elders of the traditional Maranaw noble clans in Lanao del Sur while in Marawi City Tuesday morning.
Roxas had told Maguindanao’s elected officials he is keen on continuing the programs of the Aquino administration designed to boost the capability of local government units to govern and carry out domestic peace and development initiatives.
Hataman said he is thankful to Gov. Mangudadatu, Gov. Mamintal Adiong Jr. of Lanao del Sur and their constituent-mayors for the cordial reception they extended to Roxas and Ambolodto.
Gov. Mangudadatu and Hataman are both seeking reelection as LP candidates.