COTABATO CITY – Elected officials and traditional and business leaders in the South will witness the formal change of guard tomorrow in the Mindanao Development Authority, according to new MinDA chair Secretary Manny F. Piñol.
“Initially, I just wanted a simple and quiet turnover… from (MinDA) officer-in-charge Neil Dalumpines…but I had a change of mind last Tuesday, realizing that there is need to make the people of Mindanao feel that MinDA is theirs,” Piñol said in his Saturday’s Facebook post titled “One Mindanao.”
Piñol on Friday conveyed his intention to “expand” the membership of the MinDA board to include representatives from traditional leaders or royalties in Mindanao’s Moro and indigenous people’s (IP) sectors for inclusive and cohesive operations of the agency.
President Duterte has named Piñol as MinDA chairman after after his courtesy resignation from the Department of Agriculture. He had earlier named the former DA chief as his “point man” for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), a geopolitical entity he wanted to help his administration’s thrust in correcting “historical injustices” among Moro people.
BARMM interim Chief Minister Ahod “Murad” Ebrahim, a member of the MinDA governing board, and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) founding chieftain Nur Misuari were formally invited to the ceremonies that will start around 9 a.m. at the MinDA main office in Davao City old airport area, Piñol said.
Piñol coupled his post with photos of reigning IP leaders and sultans in Mindanao who, he said, have been invited to the event. Among the royalties shown in photos are key personalities of the Mindanao Sultanate federation like Rajah Buayan Sultan Pax Mangudadatu, Lanao Sur’s Sultan of Unayan Usman Sarangani, and their counterpart from the Sulu sultanate.
Sulu Gov. Sakur Tan, former Muslim Mindanao Gov. (now Deputy Speaker for Mindanao and Basilan Rep.) Mujiv Hataman, and Maguindanao former Gov., now Rep. Esmael Mangudadatu, among others, have confirmed attendance in Monday’s event, Piñol said.
Piñol hinted at sustaining his “consultative” policy in heading the MinDA to make the agency as key player “not only in socio-economic strides but also in the government campaign against terrorism, illegal drugs, and other organized crimes” in the South.
Meanwhile, Norhata Alonto, wife of the late MinDA Secretary Abul Khayr Alonto, has also confirmed attendance. (Ali Macabalang)
