Interfaith solidarity stressed as thousands celebrate Cotabato’s centennial

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines - Calls for continuing interfaith solidarity among residents in the province echoed through the capitol Monday, where thousands celebrated North Cotabato’s 100th founding anniversary.

In a speech, Justice Secretary Leila De Lima, guest of honor in the event, said good governance can only be achieved if the local communities and their leaders are one in pushing forward the socio-economic agenda of the provincial government.

The centennial anniversary celebration coincided with the culmination of the yearly “Kalivungan Festival,” which highlights the socio-economic and eco-tourism potentials of the province.

The “Kalivungan” is a generic term, in most dialects of North Cotabato’s indigenous highland tribes, which means either a special tribal conclave, where leaders discuss community concerns, or a thanksgiving gathering to celebrate good harvests, or settlement of tribal conflicts. 

De Lima lauded North Cotabato Gov.Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza and her constituent-mayors, and all members of the provincial board for their collective effort to keep the peace among local Muslim and Christian folks to hasten the socio-economic growth of the province. 

North Cotabato’s 17 municipalities and the 40 barangays in its capital, Kidapawan City, were originally part of what started on Sept. 1, 1914 as “Cotabato Empire Province,” which also covered what are now chartered cities of Koronadal, Tacurong, Cotabato and Gen. Santos, and the provinces of Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and South Cotabato. 

The province, home to mixed Muslim, Christian and lumad communities also called “tri-people,” has just bounced back from bloody secessionist conflicts that rocked the area from 2000 to 2008.

Former Maguindanao 2nd District Rep. Simeon Datumanong, who also served as justice secretary during the time of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, said North Cotabato would not have easily risen from the devastation caused by hostilities if not for the cooperation of its Christian, Muslim and lumad folks.   

Datumanong, also a special guest to Monday’s event at the provincial capitol in in Barangay Amas in Kidapawan City, was vice governor of the Cotabato Empire Province from 1963 to 1967.

Datumanong, an ethnic Maguindanaon, urged North Cotabato residents to support the peace-building programs of the Mendoza administration. 

Organizers, among them staffers of the provincial government’s press office, placed from between 45,000 to 50,000 their estimate of the number of people that listened to the speeches of De Lima and Datumanong.