Maguindanao’s lady governor-elect wants ‘government on wheels’

COTABATO CITY – Governor-elect Mariam Sangki-Mangudadatu plans to move the government seat of Maguindanao for the ninth time and turn it into a “provincial government on wheels” to better serve the people.

Outvoting Maguindanao Mayors’ League president Freddie Mangudadatu by over 50,000 votes in the last gubernatorial race, Mariam is the first female winner governor of the province.

Freddie, outgoing mayor of Mangudadatu town, is the younger brother of three-term Gov. Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu, who was proclaimed winner in the congressional race in Maguindanao’s second district. The brothers are cousins of Mariam’s husband - Sultan Kudarat reelected Governor Suharto Mangudadatu.

After her proclamation, Mariam said: “I will move the capital (seat) to Shariff Aguak where it should be and not in Buluan.”

Provincial government on wheels

Mariam’s father, former Office on Muslim Affairs (OMA) Executive Director Ali Sangki, posted on Facebook an edited image of Maguindanao’s provincial government “on wheels.”

Sangki rallied behind Mariam’s plan, and blamed authorities for having not fixed a permanent capitol seat in Maguindanao.

The planned transfer, if carried out, will be the seventh or eighth time the provincial seat will be moved since the inception of Maguindanao.

Maguindanao, North Cotabato, and Sultan Kudarat provinces were created simultaneously in 1973 out of the then Empire province of Cotabato, whose capitol seat was located at the Pedro Colina (PC) Hill in Cotabato City.

South Cotabato was carved out first from the empire province in 1966, with Marbel (now Koronadal City) as its capital town. Then empire Cotabato governor Datu Udtog Matalam transferred his provincial government seat from Cotabato City to Pagalungan, his home town, from 1967 to 1973. Pagalungan is part of Maguindanao now.

The first appointed governor of Maguindanao – the late Simeon Datumanong, who served as empire provincial governor, brought the new province’s seat to Maganoy (now Shariff Aguak), his hometown. Meanwhile, the capitol sites of North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat have been fixed in Kidapawan and Isulan, respectively, to date.

Datumanong's successor Zacaria Candao held office at the PC Hill (old Cotabato seat) in Cotabato City, his domicile.

Candao resigned in 1977, prompting the Marcos government to appoint Sanggcala Baraguir as governor and put the Maguindanao new capitol site to Nuling (now Sultan Kudarat), the appointee’s home town.