Governor surprises old and ailing widows wishing to see him

MAGUINDANAO --- Two ailing elderly women who wished to see the now outgoing governor of Maguindanao before they die got on Saturday what they longed for.Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu visited the neighbors Ana Elidon Colcol, 71, and the 99-year-old Brigida Rondolos Rosales in their adjoining houses in Barangay Blensong, North Upi in Maguindanao on Saturday afternoon.Mangudadatu said he learned of the common wish of the two widows from Facebook posts last week by relatives.Left paralyzed by a hypertensive stroke five years ago, Colcol, who has a passport size photo of Mangudadatu by her bedside, said shethought the governor will never come to see her. Para ka palang Chinese kasi medyo singkit ang mga mata mo, she told Mangudadatu as they came face to face.Colcol’s son, Clinton, said her mother has been wishing to see Mangudadatu since he was elected to a third and last term during the May 2016 elections, where he defeated a strong challenger, Kagui Ali Midtimbang, scion of a big Moro clan in Maguindanao.The office of Mangudadatu has current humanitarian programs for the elderly folk in North Upi, where he built about four years ago a building for the municipality’s Senior Citizens Affairs Office.He said he was fascinated with how the families of Colcol, who is of mixed Teduray and Maguindanaon lineage, and Rosales, an Ilocana, have been co-existing since the 1960s. There is tranquility among the Tedurays, the Moro people, the Ilonggos and Ilocanos in their barangay, Mangudadatu said.Residents of Barangay Blensong rely mainly on propagation of hybrid corn and upland rice varieties as main sources of income.