Local execs reassure support for Mindanao peace process

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Local executives in southern provinces on Saturday, August 16, reiterated their commitment to Malacañang’s peace initiatives with Moro communities, led by two direct aides of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity Carlito Galvez Jr. and Special Assistant to the President Antonio Ernesto Lagdameo Jr. were among the dignitaries who attended last week’s Chief Minister’s Hour of Abdulrauf Macacua, head of the 80-member Bangsamoro parliament.

Macacua, appointed chief minister of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) by President Marcos Jr. last March, reported on the accomplishments of the BARMM government since its inception in 2019 and outlined its planned public service programs for the coming months.

Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza, whose province includes eight newly established towns under BARMM, said on Saturday that she and her constituents are grateful to President Marcos for his peace and development programs in Moro communities, some of which are overseen by Galvez and Lagdameo.

“We are optimistic about more fruitful results from the peace process in these areas soon,” Taliño-Mendoza, chairperson of the multi-sector Regional Development Council-12, said.

The eight Bangsamoro towns in Cotabato, covering 63 barangays, were created last year through separate enabling measures by the BARMM parliament. They were sites of deadly clashes between Moro secessionist rebels and state security forces from the 1970s to the early 1990s.

Galvez and Lagdameo supported the establishment of the eight predominantly Moro municipalities, according to members of the Bangsamoro regional parliament.

Gov. Datu Ali Midtimbang of Maguindanao del Sur said his administration will involve Galvez and Lagdameo in local peacebuilding programs.

“They have helped address governance and security issues in several areas in the Bangsamoro region in recent years,” Midtimbang, a member of a noble Maguindanao clan, said.

Galvez, a former commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division in Central Mindanao and later chief of the Western Mindanao Command in Zamboanga City, played a key role in settling more than 40 clan wars before retiring from the Philippine Army.

Macacua said on Saturday that Galvez and Lagdameo serve as Malacañang’s direct links to Muslim, Christian, and indigenous non-Moro communities in BARMM.

The Bangsamoro region covers Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, and Tawi-Tawi, as well as the cities of Lamitan, Marawi, and Cotabato.

South Cotabato Gov. Reynaldo Tamayo said Macacua, a central committee member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), along with Galvez and Lagdameo, have also been reaching out to Moro communities in areas outside BARMM’s core territory.

“We are also benefitting from Malacañang’s peace efforts with both the MILF and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). We will never falter in supporting the Mindanao peace process,” Tamayo told reporters.

The MILF and the MNLF, which have separate peace agreements with the national government, jointly manage several BARMM agencies and have representatives in the 80-member Bangsamoro regional parliament.