A CANDIDATE’S DIARY DAY 4: THE BANGSAMORO PEOPLE AGENDA

One of the accusations being hurled against me by my political opponents who would like to get the Bangsamoro vote is that I am Anti-Muslim.

This mainly based on my opposition to the controversial Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) and my tough stance against terrorism and violence when I was Governor.

To that, my response has always been in the form of a challenge: 1.) Name me one Muslim resident of North Cotabato who I killed; 2.) Name me one Muslim resident who I have shot with a gun.

Then I raise the ante by telling them about the hundreds of Bangsamoro youth who have completed college education as scholars of the provincial government under my administration, the roads built towards Bangsamoro areas, the P20-M farm equipment I sourced from the Macapagal-Arroyo administration for the farmers of Mal-Mar, the organization of the Council of Muslim Elders which gave representation to the Bangsamoro people in the Office of the Governor, the Oil Palm program which benefitted many Bangsamoro communities and the network of farm to market roads leading to the remotest communities.

I also told them of the cases of the young Nashrudin Cua of Kabacan and Ceres Mariano of Carmen, both Muslims who were wrongly accused and arrested as bombers.

I personally worked for the release of both Cua and Mariano.

Then there is the story of Montaser Balah, the young Muslim boy from Carmen who was stabbed 10 times and mutilated by Christian vigilantes in that town in 2004 whose case was brought to the attention of no less than Pres. Benigno S. Aquino III.

Montaser is now under the Witness Protection Program of the Dept. of Justice and charges have been filed against his attackers.

As I prepare for my eventual return to the Provincial Capitol, God willing, I have drafted an agenda for the development of the Bangsamoro communities in North Cotabato.

These are:

1. Special college scholarships for children of Bangsamoro families;

2. Elementary and High School Scholarships for Bangsamoro and Tribal children.

3. Universal coverage of both Philhealth and CHIP, which I intend to revive, for Bangsamoro and Tribal families.

4. Opening and repair of farm to market roads leading to Muslim communities;

5. Plant Now Pay Later program for Oil Palm and Rubber;

6. Joint Venture Agreement between the Provincial Govt. and the holders of huge ancestral lands for the development of these areas to Oil Palm plantations;

7. Establishment of Islamic Cemeteries in all towns where there is a sizable Bangsamoro population.

The provincial ordinance calling for the establishment of Islamic Cemeteries in all towns in North Coitabato with a significant Bangsamoro population was actually approved when I was Vice Governor of North Cotabato.

But this was never implemented.

Part of my governance agenda will also be a massive information campaign all over the province on the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro and the expected signing of the Bangsamoro Basic Law in 2015 which will establish the new Bangsamoro Government.

It is important that this is given focus since 39 barangays of North Cotabato will be included in the expanded territory of the Bangsamoro and it is expected that other barangays with large Bangsamoro population will follow suit.

The conflict and violence resulting from the lack of information dissemination and understanding of the MOA-AD must not be repeated and this can only be avoided if people are educated on the details of the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro and its implications on the lives of the people of North Cotabato.

(Photo shows Datu Pancho Abas, former COME Chairman, in prayers.)