2 Basilan execs renew support for peace process
GOVERNANCE/POLITICS • 10:15 AM Sat Jul 2, 2022
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By:
John M. Unson
Lamitan City’s new mayor, Roderick Furigay assumed office Thursday. (From Lamitan City Government)
2 Basilan execs renew support for peace process
COTABATO CITY – Two peace activists got to the helm of the Lamitan City and Basilan local governments in symbolic rites Thursday.
Lamitan City Mayor Roderick Furigay and Basilan Gov. Gov. Jim Salliman also separately announced Thursday that they will support the Mindanao peace process as elected officials.
The Mindanao peace process aims to end for good the now five-decade Mindanao Moro secessionist issue.
Furigay assumed mayor of Lamitan City Thursday, after serving as vice mayor for three consecutive terms that lasted for nine years.
“My administration shall focus on peace building activities, along with other interventions, essential to the attainment of socio-economic progress in Lamitan City. I shall fully support the national government’s peace process with Moro sectors in Mindanao,” Furigay said.
Salliman, elected to a third and last term as Basilan governor during the May 9 local polls, said Thursday he, too, shall embark on programs complementing the national government’s peace efforts in the Bangsamoro region.
Salliman said he shall continue reaching out to his constituents identified with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Moro National Liberation Front that have separate peace agreements with Malacañang.
“My office shall support all efforts meant to resolve the Moro issue hounding Mindanao since the late 1960s. Peace processes are the best means of addressing security issues in our province and elsewhere in the Bangsamoro region,” Salliman said.
Lamitan City and Basilan are both in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao that also covers the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.
Two other cities, Marawi and Cotabato, are also inside BARMM’s core territory.