Maranaos observing Ramadhan in the dark amid blackout

LANAO DEL SUR, Philippines - The 55th founding anniversary of Lanao del Sur last July 4 was made meaningless by the continuing blackout in more than 30 towns at the shores of the majestic Lake Lanao, which propels hydro-electric plants supplying some 70 percent of Mindanao’s daily power needs.

Clerics are complaining for almost two weeks now about the difficulty of observing the Islamic Ramadhan fasting season without electricity in the homes of thousands of Maranaos in the province.

The Ramadhan, which lasts for one lunar cycle or about 28-30 days, started on June 29. Muslims fast from dawn to dusk during the Ramadhan, both as a religious obligation, and as a means of inculcating among them the importance of self-restraint to achieve spiritual perfection.

“There is nothing to be happy about the 55th foundation day of the province. We’re wallowing in misery due to this power problem besetting Lanao del Sur,” said Imam Abdulgafor, a preacher in a local Islamic school for children.

Lanao del Sur, which has 39 towns, became a chartered province 55 years ago via the Republic Act 2228, which split into two provinces what was then the undivided Lanao, which started in 1903 only as a district under what the Americans called the "Philippine Moro Province."

The Lanao District became a province in 1914, governed by the "Department of Mindanao and Sulu," when the country was still under American rule.

“There is no more essence in our being called Maranaos, which means `people of the lake,’ because despite our being near Lake Lanao, the source of our identity, we don’t have electricity in our homes,” lamented another cleric, Ustadz Amirudin Salic, 42.

He said fasting Muslims traditionally read at nighttime important verses in the Quran, particularly those pertaining to fraternalism, piety, and respect and love for neighbors, regardless of races and religions.

“Under this situation, what religious studies can be done at nighttime, in total darkness? Our situation is very deplorable," Salic said.

More than 20 incumbent mayors in the province had earlier charged with plunder the manager of the Lanao Sur Electric Cooperative (LASURECO) before the Ombudsman. The move has sparked tension between officials of the cooperative, some of them related to Maranao warlords, and the complaining local officials, who are identified with Governor Mamintal Adiong Jr.

The LASURECO now has a standing account of more than P6 billion, for unpaid generation fees, with the state-run National Power Corporation.

Salic said due to power outage, even the public address facilities in mosques cannot be used for the traditional “bang,” the call to prayer in Arabic, which is aired five times daily.

Local officials, mostly members of the Liberal Party, have accused President Benigno Aquino III, Local Government Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, and Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla of ignoring the problem.

“Wala man lang silang ginagawa. The problem is getting serious every day,” a local executive, who asked not to be identified, told The Star.

A Maranao grains trader, who asked to be identified only as Mokamad, said what is more saddening for them is that provinces and cities around Lanao del Sur that were established only in the 1970s have continued progressing in terms of businesses and industries run by power supplied by the hydro-electric plants in the downstream tributaries of Lake Lanao. 

“Ngayon isang malaking gulo na ang pagkaka mismanage ng LASURECO na nag sanhi sa hidwaan ng management nito na may `balat sibuyas,’ at ng mga mayors sa probinsya, kasama na ang aming governor. Dapat pumasok na sa eksena ang Malacañang,” seconded an owner of a small rice store in Marawi City, the capital of Lanao del Sur.

Groups that belong to the academe said the incumbent administration of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao has been trying to intervene, but cannot address the problem all by itself since functions and powers of the Department of Energy are not devolved to the ARMM’s regional government.

“This power crisis besetting Lanao del Sur will surely be chronicled as an added chapter, a very dark chapter, to the history of this province," a Maranao public school principal said.

So historic indeed is Lanao del Sur, a component province of ARMM. Maranaos have fought fierce battles with the Spaniards, the Americans and the Japanese during World War II.

It was in Marawi City where the first shots that marked the Moro uprising in the 1970s first rang, when a group of Maranaos took over Marawi City, played martial songs on a local radio station, and urged local folks to rise against the Marcos regime. They were eventually driven away by responding combatants of the now defunct Philippine Constabulary, but their five-day occupation of Marawi City virtually fanned the flames of what was to become the Mindanao Moro rebellion, which led to the birth of the Moro National Liberation Front.

It was in Malabang, a coastal town in the second district of Lanao del Sur, where Japanese soldiers executed the country’s chief justice then, Jose Abad Santos, on May 2, 1942.