Kanakan was a key staffer of the provincial office in North Cotabato of the National Commission on the Indigenous People prior to her entry into the ARMM executive department.
The ARMM’s deputy governor for indigenous people functions as the special conduit of the region’s culturally-pluralistic groups to the regional government, which has jurisdiction over more than 20 support offices and line agencies.
Kanakan is the daughter of an ethnic Tiruray, Victoria Kanakan, the director of the Office of Southern Cultural Communities in the autonomous region. Her father, Mohammad, was a former board member in the province of Maguindanao.
Ampatuan, the region’s fifth elected governor, said among the main concerns of his two-month-old administration is the attainment of peace and sustainable development of the ARMM’s indigenous and highland communities. — John Unson