MAGUINDANAO, Philippines - The provincial government will launch on Wednesday its new, multi-million heavy equipment pool needed to reconstruct conflict-stricken areas in support of President Rodrigo Duterte’s southern development agenda.
Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu will personally lead the symbolic inauguration of the machinery, comprised of river dredger, trucks, and road-building equipment procured through a loan from the Land Bank of the Philippines.
Part of this year’s infrastructure thrusts of Mangudadatu’s office is the massive dredging of heavily-silted rivers crisscrossing the province, which easily overflows during rainy days, causing inundation of riverside agricultural enclaves.
The application for the equipment loan was facilitated last year yet, initiated by the Mangudadatu administration to complement the national government’s normalization thrusts in areas where there are Moro secessionist forces.
Maguindanao is host to more than a dozen camps of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which has an ongoing diplomatic overture with Malacañang.
Mangudadatu said all of their proposed infrastructure projects for 2016 to 2019 are parallel with the development initiatives of Duterte.
He said their new equipment pool shall also be used to construct new and maintain old roads connecting underdeveloped peasant enclaves to schools and markets in town centers.