SYMBOL OF GOVERNANCE. The Philippine flag flies in front of the newly refurbished town hall of Talitay, Maguindanao on Tuesday (June 22) where local government function was absent during the past 12 months. Government forces helped restore normalcy in the town and install government functionaries in the town center once again after hampered by intermittent clashes among armed followers of local politicians. (Photo courtesy of Maguindanao PPO)
COTABATO CITY – Following instructions of Maguindanao Gov. Bai Mariam Sangki-Mangudadatu, police and military forces Tuesday brought back local governance to the town center of Talitay, Maguindanao.
For more than a year, the Talitay government center has been operating in a remote village of the municipality following the hostilities involving the town's political arch-rivals.
“On Tuesday morning, the Philippine flag has once again flown proudly in front of the refurbished town hall in Barangay Poblacion,” Col. Arnold Santiago, Maguindanao police chief, said in a radio interview Wednesday.
Santiago said the primary aim of the provincial government is to make the local government unit function in its original designated office as the symbol of authority in the town’s most populated area.
Santiago said the town police will be put up beside the town hall and that soldiers will be deployed in its vicinity to prevent harassment from armed political enemies of elected officials.
Only last week, the town’s satellite government center in Barangay Gadungan was harassed by suspected armed supporters of the political enemies of the incumbent officials.
Santiago said the satellite office was not recognized by the provincial government and the Civil Service Commission and that all employees reporting there were considered absent without official leave.
Military officials said the town’s services have been hampered by bloody skirmishes involving the Sabal and Ameril clans, both political arch-rivals and locked in “rido” (clan feud).
The current mayor of Talitay is Moner Sabal, the town’s top elected councilor. His father, Abdulwahab, ran for mayor in the 2019 local elections with his uncle Montasir, as his father’s running mate.
Both Abulwahab and Montasir won.
Montasir had yet to assume as vice mayor after the election after he went in hiding following his inclusion in President Rodrigo Duterte’s list of narco-politicians in the country.
Sabal’s absence made the vice mayor’s seat vacant, making the councilor assume as acting vice mayor. Abdulwahab was assassinated in February this year in front of a hotel in Manila.
His son, Moner became the town mayor.
Santiago hopes that with the town hall in operation, government services will fully function in Talitay while the police is trying its best to address security issues. (PNA)
