COTABATO CITY — A large group of elected officials from two Central Mindanao provinces, pitted by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) during the May 12 elections, took oath on Monday and pledged support for the National Government’s peace overtures with Southern Moro communities.

The local executives, led by Tucao O. Mastura and Ali A. Midtimbang, the winners in Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur’s gubernatorial elections last month, respectively, were sworn to office by Bangsamoro Chief Minister Abdulrauf A. Macacua, who is a senior official of the MILF’s United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP).

Mr. Macacua also administered the oath of office for the newly elected congressional representative of Maguindanao del Sur, Esmael G. Mangudadatu, also a UBJP member.

Mr. Mastura, Mr. Midtimbang and Mr. Mangudadatu are scions of well-known noble Maguindanaoan clans and are direct descendants of Moro datus who fought the Spaniards and the Japanese forces during the second world war.

The symbolic oath-taking event was held at the Shariff Kabunsuan Cultural Complex in the capitol compound of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in Cotabato City, attended by Brig. Gen. Romeo J. Macapaz of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, representatives from the 1st Marine Brigade and the Army’s 6th Infantry Division and Cotabato City Mayor Mohammad Ali D. Matabalao.

“I’m sure that these new set of provincial officials in these two provinces will nurture the dividends of the Mindanao peace process, aiming to put full diplomatic closure to the Mindanao Moro issue that hounded the country for some five decades,” Mr. Macacua told reporters.

Officials of peace advocacy groups who attended the oath-taking activity had told reporters that with Mr. Mastura and Mr. Midtimbang at the helm of the provincial governments of Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur, respectively, both provinces will become solid bailiwicks of the MILF-led UBJP. — John Felix M. Unson

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