Duterte attends Malabang Independence Day rites
GOVERNANCE/POLITICS • 15:00 PM Thu Jun 13, 2019
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By:
John M. Unson
President Duterte was in Malabang, Lanao del Sur Wednesday. (John M. Unson)
Duterte attends Malabang Independence Day rite
LANAO DEL SUR --- Meranaos were elated with the visit of President Rodrigo Duterte to Malabang Wednesday to grace a simple Independence Day celebration in the seaside town.
It was the second presidential engagement in the second district of Lanao del Sur since the creation of the province 60 years ago.
“The Meranaos in this part of the country are grateful to President Duterte for coming over for a simple Independence Day activity. The event shall be chronicled as a new chapter in the history of Lanao del Sur,” Vice Gov. Mamintal Adiong said Thursday.
President Fidel Ramos was in Malabang in April 1996 to inaugurate the newly concreted Cotabato-Malabang Highway built by the now defunct regional government of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Adiong, who won with an overwhelming vote lead during the May 13 gubernatorial elections in the province, will assume as provincial governor by June 30, replacing the outgoing Gov. Soraya Alonto-Adiong.
Adiong, elected vice governor in 2016, said his constituents appreciated Duterte’s having reaffirmed his Moro lineage, owing to her Meranao maternal grandmother, in a message while in Malabang.
The president also reiterated his commitment to the Mindanao peace process in his speech.
“I’m thankful to the personnel of the Lanao del Sur provincial government and the leaders in Malabang for helping each other ensure the success of the event,” Adiong said.
The Independence Day commemoration in Malabang was jointly organized by the provincial government and the Office of the President.
“We never even thought that another president would ever come to Malabang, an old historic town and one of the pioneer centuries-old Muslim settlements in Mindanao,” Adiong said. (John Felix Unson)