Maguindanao town begins recovery from conflict, corruption

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines - The  impoverished Datu Abdullah Sangki (DAS) town in the second district of the province has started to recover from  armed conflicts and mismanagement by past municipal officials.

Residents of DAS have begun seeing improvements in the local economy  as a result of the “participatory governance” by Mayor Mariam Sangki Mangudadatu, according to Municipal Councilor Anwar Emblawa.

Mangudadatu is a neophyte local executive, whose first term started on June 30 following her election during the May polls.

Mangudadatu, in her “Ulat sa Bayan” last Wednesday, mentioned of how she “inherited” only a table and a chair in the office of the municipal mayor when she assumed on June 30.

Mangudadatu was the first ever municipal mayor in the province to initiate an Ulat sa Bayan in keeping with a campaign promise to keep DAS residents informed about the municipal bureaucracy.

“The former municipal treasurer turned over to me then a savings account passbook which only contained a maintaining balance just enough for the account to remain open," Mangudadatu said.

Emblawa, who is also in his first term as municipal councilor, said the local government unit of DAS is also pursuing in handling funds intended for peace and development projects.

The barangays covered by DAS originally belonged to the much older Ampatuan town, which was created in the 1950s.

Most of the farming districts inhabited by Christians in Ampatuan were fused together in the territory of DAS, created about 10 years ago by the Regional Legislative Assembly in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

“Our LGU is also trying its best to involve Muslim and Christian leaders in the implementation of its projects and community activities to build strong relationship among all sectors in the municipality,” Emblawa said.

More than a thousand villagers have availed themselves of free medical and dental services jointly provided by the LGU, the military, and other government entities  last Wednesday as one of the highlights of the mayor’s Ulat sa Bayan.

The Ulat sa Bayan was meant to inform local folks on the peace and development initiatives of their LGU and how elected officials intend to address domestic problems with the help of the provincial government and line agencies of ARMM.

DAS now boasts of a vast Cavendish banana plantation put up almost two years ago by a multinational fruit company.

The banana farm now employs more than 800 workers, some of them members or sympathizers of  the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. - John Unson