COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Chinese traders were elated by the election of a governor in the fledgling Maguindanao del Norte province who can speak their language and a vice governor who is a businessman.
Tucao Ong Mastura and Marshall Ibrahim Sinsuat were proclaimed the first elected governor and vice governor, respectively, of the nearly two-year-old Maguindanao del Norte on Wednesday afternoon, May 14, at the headquarters of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division in Datu Odin Sinsuat town.
Mastura and Sinsuat ran as official candidates of the United Bangsamoro Justice Party, the political party of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. The MILF co-governs the five-year-old Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, or BARMM, created as part of its peace agreement with the Philippine government.
Chinese Traders Hope for Programs to Boost Investment
Members of the Chinese communities in Cotabato City — the seat of the BARMM government — and in nearby towns in Maguindanao del Norte, some with trading partners abroad, told reporters Thursday, May 15, that they are confident Mastura and Sinsuat, whose families are involved in business, will prioritize programs to boost the province’s investment potential.
The original Maguindanao province, established in 1974 by a decree of then-President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., was divided into Maguindanao del Sur and Maguindanao del Norte following the May 2022 elections, through an enabling law passed by the 80-member BARMM Parliament.
Optimistic
Several Chinese merchants in Cotabato City, the regional capital, expressed optimism on Facebook that the business climate in Maguindanao del Norte will improve under a governor close to their community and a vice governor whose clan operates large-scale fishing ventures in their hometown of Datu Blah Sinsuat, along the province’s western coast.
Mohammad Omar Pasigan, chairman of the Bangsamoro Regional Board of Investments under the office of BARMM Chief Minister Abdulraof Abdul Macacua, told reporters that Chinese businesspeople and their spouses had campaigned for Mastura and Sinsuat due to their ties with the business sector in Central Mindanao.
“We are happy that they supported the candidates of the United Bangsamoro Justice Party during the elections,” said Pasigan, whose office serves as BARMM’s main liaison with local and foreign investors.
Mastura and Sinsuat were quoted in radio reports Thursday morning as expressing appreciation for the neutrality of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division and the Police Regional Office–BARMM during the May 12 elections in Maguindanao del Norte and elsewhere in the autonomous region.
“It was also good that the canvassing of election returns from Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur was conducted by Commission on Elections officials at the 6th Infantry Division headquarters,” Sinsuat said. “The proceedings were orderly and peaceful, held on neutral ground.”
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