Mayor Cynthia Guiani supports Bangsamoro Organic Law

Cotabato City Mayor Frances Cynthia Guiani recognizes that the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) won in the recent plebiscite, and she is now determined to assist and cooperate with the Bangsamoro Transition Commission toward the successful implementation of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) if she is reelected as mayor of Cotabato City. This is in accordance with her interest and desire to help in promoting speedy peace and development of the Moro region.

Cynthia, 54, is a lawyer, with a law degree from the University of Mindanao in Davao City. With a heavy workload, she finds time to attend to her three children’s needs. A plus point is her husband, Umbra Sayad’s supporting her advocacies; he works with the city’s National Fire Academy.

“My father was a politician too before he became a judge,” she said. “He was the leading councilor and he was loved by the people because he fought for their rights and was passionate about helping others.”

It was her late brother, Japal Guiani, who first followed in their father’s footsteps. He served three terms as mayor of Cotabato City. On seeking reelection for the third time, he asked his younger sister to be his running mate and seek the office of the vice mayor.

The brother-sister team was elected. Japal, however, died of a lingering illness two years ago. Cynthia was sworn in as Cotabato City mayor.

She continued her brother’s programs as she also pushed her own. Her primary objective, she told me, was “ to turn the city into one of the best places to live in.” This means the city had to be safe and prosperous for her constituents. She said the crime rate needed to be lowered to attract more investors. In her two years in office, she managed to help reduce drastically the drug problem and crime rate. She created the “ronda” (Revitalized Operations and Neutralization of Drug Addiction) beat and insisted on the strict implementation of curfew for minors. As a result, moderate inward investments improved. 

She also worked to increase the literacy rate of the city. She notes, “Aside from being child-friendly, Cotabato City has the highest literacy rate in Region 12. There are no out-of-school youths in our city,” she declares.

Prestigious business organizations judged Cotabato as one of the top three business-friendly cities in the country, and the Philippine National Police considers the city as the country’s safest city. From a third class city, Cotabato is now basking in a first class status, and is considered as one of Mindanao’s most important cities.

She told me her city has been judged No. 1 in the Competitiveness Index in Region 12, and No. 4 in Mindanao, the first being Davao, Cagayan de Oro, and Tagum City, and No. 17 out of a total of 1,700 cities.

With these accomplishments, it may seem there isn’t anything else left to be done for the city. On the contrary, Mayor Guiani  says there is still much to do. Hence she is running for reelection. 

She is running under her own party, One Kutawato, a New People’s Coalition party. She is not officially allied with President Duterte, but she is in favor of helping the administration succeed.

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Capitol Christian Leadership celebrated its 51st anniversary Feb. 19 at Club Filipino with the theme, “Committed Righteous Leadership Towards a Godly Philippines.”

CCL was founded by the evangelist Greg Tingson and well-known journalist Leon O. Ty (both deceased) to promote Christian faith, freedom and leadership. 

Speakers at the anniversary celebration were Ruben T. Reyes who spoke on leadership, and Bangko Sentral Deputy Gov. Diwa Gunigundo, who dwelt on the challenges for the church to link generations. The CCL president, Dr. Leah Paquiz, presented her view on godly leadership in service.

Ruben Reyes is a former presiding justice of the Court of Appeals, and a retired Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. He is now vice president of the Judicial Council of the United Methodist Church worldwide, president of the Philippine National Prayer Breakfast Foundation, church lay leader of Central Church, Manila, and adviser of CCL and Kapihan sa Club Filipino. Since his retirement from the high court in 2007, he has fully devoted his life – “as payback time to serving God and fellowmen.”

A portion of Justice Reyes’ message calls on Christians to tell leaders of their wrongdoing, but doing it judiciously. He said,

“In democratic times like ours, one need not be timid, much less tolerant, to point out wrongdoing. On one hand, the quad-media – no longer tri-media – because of the social network – is seen by some observers as over critical of the administration. On the other hand, a few wonder if the President is given the correct information, let alone right advice, on critical developments and issues.

“Thus, when we deal with the President, we need to be tactful, honest but prudent. The opposite is futile – tactless. In judges’ parlance, we have to be judicious or to exercise sound judgment.

“We ought not to be hesitant or afraid to tell the truth. But, sometimes as an exception, it is more effective if we do the critiquing tactfully, with a keen sense of what and how to say it that the persons concerned will see that we are sincere, we mean well, and have the interest of the nation at heart.”

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