PIKIT, Cotabato โ The people still need help. That is one thing that has remained remarkably simple in a region where political boundaries can be complicated
That shared reality brought Bangsamoro Parliament Member Kadil Sinolinding Jr. โ better known as โDoc Jojoโ โ and Ligawasan Vice Mayor Jenaida Abas together on Friday, August 28, for talks aimed at strengthening cooperation on programs for peace, development and public service.
Their meeting was more than a routine gathering of officials. It underscored an increasingly important reality in the Bangsamoro Special Geographic Area: communities may sit on one side of a political boundary, but the problems facing their residents do not.
Ligawasan is one of eight municipalities in the Bangsamoro Special Geographic Area (SGA), which is administered by the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) but is geographically located within Cotabato Province in Administrative Region 12.
And for years, local leaders have continued to work together despite those complicated administrative lines.
Sinolinding, who also serves as minister of the Bangsamoro Ministry of Health, has developed a reputation within the SGA for bringing public health and humanitarian programs directly to communities.
Vice Mayor Abas has likewise been active in community initiatives alongside her father, Akmad โJackโ Abas, who is also a member of the 80-seat Bangsamoro Parliament.
Together, the Abases and Sinolinding have supported activities reaching both Moro and non-Moro communities in Ligawasan and surrounding areas.
For residents, the cooperation has translated into something far more tangible than political declarations: medical care, relief assistance and other basic services reaching communities that need them most.
Since 2022, more than 5,000 Moro and non-Moro residents have benefited from joint medical and relief missions involving Sinolinding’s parliamentary office, personnel from the Bangsamoro health ministry, and municipal and barangay officials.
The missions have reached communities in Ligawasan, Old Kaabacan, Malidegao and Kapalawan, with additional residents benefiting from similar efforts in four other municipalities within the SGA.
Sinolinding’s public-service programs cover the second district of the Bangsamoro SGA, comprising Ligawasan, Old Kaabacan, Malidegao and Kapalawan.
The initiatives have received the backing of mayors and barangay officials across the four municipalities, as well as Cotabato Gov. Emmylou โLalaโ Taliรฑo-Mendoza.
Sinolinding’s credentials extend beyond politics. Known affectionately as โDoc Jojoโ in the Bangsamoro SGA, he is a physician and ophthalmologist who pursued specialized training in India. His years of public service have also earned him several awards.
Among them was recognition as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the World, an honor he received in Portugal in 2021 as a nominee of Jaycees International-Philippines.
But perhaps the most meaningful measure of his work is found not on an awards list, but in the communities where medical and humanitarian missions have taken place.
The Bangsamoro SGA presents a unique governance challenge. Although the area became part of the BARMM in 2019, its municipalities remain geographically surrounded by and situated within Cotabato province, which belongs to Region 12.
That arrangement could easily have created a wall between officials. Instead, cooperation has continued.
Gov. Lala, Sinolinding, the Bangsamoro Ministry of Health, and municipal leaders have maintained their collaboration on humanitarian initiatives, demonstrating that when it comes to delivering assistance, political boundaries do not have to become barriers to public service.
And in communities where access to healthcare, relief, and development opportunities remains difficult, that cooperation may matter more than the lines drawn on a map.
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