By Manny Piñol
Buldon, Maguindanao – “Hindi kami makapaniwala na makita ka namin dito Secretary,” an Iranun woman told me as I set foot in what is part of the large Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) enclave called Camp Abubakar yesterday.
(We cannot believe we will ever see you here, Secretary.)
The expression of surprise and disbelief was understable.
Had I ventured into this territory at the time I was Governor and then Vice Governor of North Cotabato, I would have been mobbed and mauled to a pulp.
Or I could have hanged or shot to death.
Since the time President Joseph Estrada declared his “All-out War” against the MILF in 1999 up to the time I petitioned the Supreme Court to declared as “UnConstitutional”the controversial Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain in 2008, I was the monster in the minds of the Bangsamoro.
I was their nightmare as I engaged the Government of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in an intense battle to stop the signing of the MOA-AD because it was crafted in secrecy and without consultations with the stakeholders in the affected Christian areas.
The MOA-AD would have created a Bangsamoro Sub-State from out of the original ARMM area and by carving out territories from several provinces, including my province North Cotabato.
It would have given the MILF their own Armed Forces, Police Force, Central Bank and others which we perceived were elements that could have led to the creation of an independent state.
President Rody Duterte, however, was able to address these issues by telling the MILF that there would be no independent army or police force for the Bangasamoro.
By doing that, the President was able to placate the Christian minority especially those who were born and who will stay in the Bangsamoro Area.
Today, I have joined the voices supporting the Bangsamoro Organic Law which would create the Bangsamoro Nation minus the provisions of the old MOA-AD which sowed fear in the hearts of the other stakeholders in the island.
My visit to Barangay Oring, Buldon, Maguindanao yesterday was part of my official duty and personal advocacy to improve agricultural productivity and lower poverty in the Bangsamoro Area.
With me in the quick visit were Maguindanao Governor Esmael Mangudadatu, his brother and successor, Freddie, and son, Board Member King.
Together, we brought representatives of a Russian Business Group to Camp Abubakar and Polloc Port to introduce the area for agricultural and fisheries investments.
The result was very positive and in a months time, things could be moving in the former battlefield with job opportunities and income for the people.
It was my second journey into the strongholds of the MILF which considered me as their Enemy Number 1 for many years.
Last year, I visited MILF Chairman Murad Ebrahim Al Haj in Camp Darapanan and together we joined former MILF combatants who graduated from a training on upland rice growing conducted by the PhilRice.
Yesterday’s trip to the “Enemy Heartland” will not be the last.
With the clear directions given by President Duterte, I will venture into uncharted areas of the South to ensure that programs which would contribute to lasting peace in Mindanao would be undertaken.
This commitment will be pursued even beyond my official tour of duty as President Duterte’s Agriculture Secretary.
After all, I was born and raised in Mindanao.
This is my home and I dream of peace in this troubled land for my children and their children’s children.
(Photos by Mayette Tudlas show members of a security group in a 105-hectare banana farm. Other photos show the welcoming party upon our visit to Buldon yesterday.)
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