All set for historic mass oath-taking in Maguindanao

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines - All is set for Sunday’s first ever mass oath-taking of local officials where they will also reaffirm their commitment to President Benigno Aquino III’s effort of fostering lasting peace in the province, which is a known bastion of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Local executives in the past were separately sworn to office either by prosecutors, or judges, or representatives of the Department of Interior and Local Government only in their respective town halls.

Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu said in an emailed statement that the mass oath-taking of elected provincial and municipal officials will also show solidarity of leaders behind Malacañang’s peace overtures with Southern Moro groups.

Maguindanao is host to the largest enclave of the MILF, Camp Darapanan, located in Sultan Kudarat town in the first district of the province.

President Aquino’s “Sajahatra Bangsamoro,” a special program on accelerated delivery of socio-economic, health, agricultural, educational and social welfare services to far-flung Moro communities, was launched on February 11 in Sultan Kudarat.

Bobby Katambak, who will assume as member of the provincial board, said their incoming presiding officer, Vice Gov. Datu Lester Sinsuat, and all members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan will attend Sunday’s ceremony at the public gymnasium in Buluan town.

Katambak said the event is the first ever in Maguindanao, created in the early 1970s, and whose territory was carved out of the “Cotabato Empire Province” that once spanned from what are now chartered provinces of North Cotabato, South Cotabato, Sarangani, Sultan Kudarat and the Central Mindanao cities of Gen. Santos, Koronadal, Tacurong, Kidapawan and Cotabato.

Katambak said Mangudadatu invited newly-elected officials from the opposition to participate in the event, which was also meant to showcase the start of the restoration of normalcy among local members of the Liberal Party and the United Nationalist Alliance.

Members of the Liberal Party, whose provincial chapter figurehead is Mangudadatu, promised voters during the campaign period to unite, if elected, along with their rivals in UNA, and push forward the government’s peace talks with the MILF as one, solid block.

The mass oath-taking of elected officials in Buluan on Sunday morning will be jointly officiated by Judge Bansawan Ibrahim of the Regional Trial Court in Cotabato City and the chief of the DILG in the province, Isah Romangcap.

Col. Dickson Hermoso, public affairs chief of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said soldiers belonging to the 601st Brigade based in Tacurong City will secure the venue of the event, along with policemen from the Maguindanao provincial police office.

Hermoso said the commanding officer of the 601st Brigade, Col. Edmund Pangilinan, will personally oversee the security preparations for the activity.

He said soldiers are now positioned along strategic stretches of highways traversing isolated areas in Maguindanao to ensure the safety of guests and local officials attending the Sunday mass oath-taking.