COC filing in seaside town most peaceful in Maguindanao del Norte

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — What is touted as the most peaceful town in Maguindanao del Norte hit the local news this week for having the most orderly conduct of listing candidates for barangay posts compared to the other 11 towns in the province.

In separate statements on Saturday, two regional security officials, Police Brig. Gen. Allan Nobleza and Army Major Gen. Alex Rillera, acknowledged the role of the multi-sector Datu Blah Sinsuat Municipal Peace and Order Council in ensuring a peaceful filing of certificates of candidacy by aspirants for elective positions in the 13 barangays in the area, a virtually still fledgling 13-year-old seaside town.

Trouble, triggered by tension among rival Moro clans that pitted candidates, marred the filing of COCs in a number of towns in Maguindanao del Norte and the five other provinces in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Nobleza, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, said credit for the peaceful filing of COCs in Datu Blah Sinsuat partly goes to the local Moro, ethnic Teduray and Christian leaders who helped the Commission on Elections secure the filing of candidacies by aspirants from their 13 barangays.

“It is the community that can work that out, as always,” Nobleza said, referring to the residents of Datu Blah Sinsuat, also known as the fishing capital of Maguindanao del Norte.

Rillera, commander of the 6th Infantry Division and its anti-terror Joint Task Force Central, said he is certain that Datu Blah Sinsuat will soon rise as the new investment hub in Maguindanao del Norte.

Mayor Marshall Sinsuat said even local members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Moro National Liberation Front voluntarily helped secure the Comelec’s COC registration process in their municipality.