MagPEACE produces prospective physician and lawyer

MAGUINDANAO -- The Maguindanao Program for Education and Community Empowerment (MagPEACE) now boasts of having produced a prospective lawyer and a physician after it was launched seven years ago.The MagPEACE, now assisting more than 6,000 college scholars, is being bankrolled by the office of Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu.The program provides college education to deserving students in support of the normalization agenda of Malacañang’s Southern Mindanao peace process.The peace process aims to restore normalcy in conflict-stricken areas covered by security agreements between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.Faizah Gladys Karon Tejero, 27, said on Thursday she is thankful to the MagPEACE, which helped her finished Bachelor of Laws at the Ateneo De Davao University (ADDU).She graduated from the ADDU law school on April 29. I can’t thank the MagPEACE enough, Tejero said.Another scholar, Bai Apiyah Haron, 26, will also graduate from the Our Lady of Fatima School of Medicine in Bukidnon on May 27.The now third-termer Mangudadatu, who pioneered MagPEACE seven years ago, said he is optimistic Tejero and Haron will become a full-fledged lawyer and a physician, respectively. They both want to return to Maguindanao province and work for the local communities, Mangudadatu said.One objective of MagPEACE is to eradicate religious extremism and misguided Islamic militancy in the province by helping ethnic Maguindanaon, Lumad and Christian students study in regular schools.Maguindanao covers 36 towns. There is presence of the outlawed radically fanatical Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in at least four towns in the province.Mangudadatu said MagPEACE is open to children of BIFF members despite their being hostile to the government. Education from mainstream institutions is one good solution to religious extremism, Mangudadatu.The governor, whose third and last term will end on June 30, 2019, is chairman of the Maguindanao provincial peace and order council.The provincial government’s chief budget officer, Lynette Estandarte, said Thursday no fewer than 300 students finished four-year-courses each year since MagPEACE started seven years ago.Mangudadatu said he was even astonished one time when a sales representative of an establishment in a mall in Davao City approached and thanked him for having finished college through MagPEACE. Education can also take out poverty in far-flung areas in Maguindanao. That is why we are into this endeavor, he said.