4 Lanao mayors patch up gap with Ampatuan

COTABATO CITY — Four influential Maranaw mayors, who bolted the administration party during the Aug. 8, 2005 elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and supported defeated gubernatorial candidate Mahid Mutilan, reconciled with ARMM Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan last Tuesday.

The four Lanao del Sur mayors — Ali Solitario Omar of Marawi City, Minda Dagalangit of Lumba Bayabao, Topaan Disumimba of Tamparan, and Nair’n Dipatuan of Bacolod Kalawi — took turns telling Ampatuan that they would convince other mayors, who supported Mutilan, also a Maranaw, to renew their ties with Maguindanao’s Ampatuan clan in keeping with the Islamic teaching of fraternalism.

Omar is a ranking figure in the central leadership of the Moro National Liberation Front and, as former lieutenant of jailed former ARMM Gov. Nur Misuari, helped craft the Sept. 2, 1996 peace pact between the government and the MNLF.

Ampatuan readily accepted as "siblings" his four constituent-mayors, who, he said, have exemplified the Islamic principle of political tolerance and co-existence.

"This will project to the international community, including the member-countries of the Organization of Islamic Conference, that leaders of the ARMM today are no longer feudal and adversarial as far as regional politics is concerned," Ampatuan said.

He said the four mayors are known for wielding clout over vote-rich communities in Lanao del Sur, reportedly delivering more than 50,000 votes for Mutilan during the 2005 gubernatorial elections.

"While my administration is serious in furthering political solidarity among leaders in the ARMM, it will never persecute politicians and local executives belonging to the opposition. It is by reaching out to them, giving them active roles in the regional governance, that we can be at peace with them," he said.

Ampatuan said he will reciprocate the mayors’ gesture by identifying possible projects which his administration can implement in their respective municipalities.

Ampatuan and the four mayors buried their differences less than a week after the governor’s cousin, Ebrahim "Toto" Paglas, who also lost in his gubernatorial bid, ended their animosity during a symbolic rite in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao. — John Unson