A CANDIDATE’S DIARY, DAY 31: LIBUNGAN FOLKS STAYED EVEN AFTER THE RALLY

In my last sortie in the town of Libungan last night, I was deeply touched by the affection of the people who stayed and milled around me even after the rally had ended.

I had to climb up a bench and jokingly tell them: “You can go home now, the rally has ended.”

It was an announcement which drew laughter from the huge crowd of about 3,000 who then clapped their hands but still stayed until I walked away from the rally site in front of the Libungan Public Market.

The people I met as I walked up to my vehicle flashed “Victory” signs and asked me to come back to Libungan after the election.

The people of the town of Libungan have always supported me in all the previous elections especially since my first victory in 1998.

It was in this town where I showed how I wanted to stay close to the people by sleeping in the villages were we built farm to market roads.

I still hold the record as the only Giovernor of North Cotabato who climbed the Akir-Akir Mountain Range and spent the night with other climbers in the area.

Last night, when I told the people of my desire to work for the establishment of the University of Southern Mindanao (USM) annex in Libungan, the people applauded loudly in approval.

I explained to them that the establishment of the USM Libungan Campus would enliven the local economy as the expected huge student population would become new buyers of products sold in the local markets.

I also told them that upon my return as Governor of the province, I will go back to Akir-Akir again, no longer just as a mountain climber, but to start an ambitious program to reforest the bald mountain range using rubber trees.

The rubber reforestation program in the estimated 10,000-hectare mountain range considered by many Aromanen Manobo in the area as a special ancestral and sacred area is expected to provide jobs to thousands in Libungan while at the same time earning an estimated P2-B a year for the community.

Later, when I asked my driver to park my vehicle near the old Libungan Bridge so I could change my shirt soaked in sweat, three teen-agers on board a motorcycle parked near me and said: “We will guard you Gov until you leave.”

That is how the people of Libungan love me and again, I told myself I have to show them that I care for them and love them too.

(Photo caption: Even in the half-lit area of the public market of Libungan, people gathered for my final sortie in the town Monday