One for Mindanao

Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III and Juan Miguel "Migz" Zubiri

The much awaited May 13, 2013 elections is just one day to go and most of you might already have a complete list of the senatoriables to vote. If you don't mind, do you have in your list two distinguished gentlemen hailing from Mindanao?  Fomer Senator Juan Miguel "Migz" Zubiri of Bukidnon and Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III respectively, two different faces coming from two different parties yet one common goal, public service, one running as an re-electionist and one running for a convincing  and an uncontested seat in the upper house. We could hardly distinguish who on the two is running as a re-electionist and who is looking for a victory with no irregularities, you know what I mean.  With the bitter past that both of this exemplary gentlemen had shared, the fate of Mindanao has also been affected due to the process of they've been through. Mindanao, already tainted with security threats from rebel groups that has insisted attempts of cessation and partition, complaints from various sectors of the community of alleged forsaking by the national government for basic services,  now  faces another predicament. Already lacking on representatives in the senate for its 90 million plus residents; Mindanao senatoriable candidates (Migz and Koko) are still getting into each other because of the bittersweet of the 2007 elections.

With just Guingona and Pimentel hailing from Mindanao as our representatives in the senate, we can't help but think that we Mindanaons would feel like belittled for attention. The never ending debate on how to end the power outage/shortage issue, the peace and order concerns, unattended agricultural capability, and many more are just few of the insecurities that we have as a Filipino citizen. Making matters worse is when both senatoriable bets are in a political rift exchanging blows at each other forgetting they were both sons of Northern Mindanao. What saddens me more is when a father and son political figure here in Misamis Oriental expressed on air via local radio station that they will not campaign for Koko because a politically related dispute from the past, and a local columnist on a local newspaper emphatically saying that he isn't moved with Migz' projects like multicabs because those vehicles won't change how greedy he [Zubiri] was for the position that he even tampered the 2007 elections. 

For us people of Mindanao to enjoy an ample support from the government, it is practical and crucial for us to elect senator from Mindanao too. I'm not saying other senators don't have the vision to help us but it's going to be easier for us to tap national legislators who were from the same place as ours. Therefore, I am personally campaigning for Migz and Koko for you the betterment of Mindanao. Koko's one of a kind track record matched to his resounding achievements is surely a big boost to the senate, while Migz' own stand out personal profile as dedicated public servant paired with a great advocacy is surely missed on the congress. Let's set aside politics this time, let's think of the future of this promising land - Mindanao - for we, our parents, and the next generation are the ones who will benefit most from it.

A lesson from history, every administration provided a milestone of governance for Mindano; Former President Corazon Aquino issued EO 512 paving way to the creation of Mindanao Economic Development Council or MEDCO, it was Former President Fidel V. Ramos who operationalized it, Former President Joseph Estrada  made remarkable efforts on eradicating security threats in Mindanao despite a short lived presidency, former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed a bill converting MEDCO to MinDA or Mindanao Development Authority, and current President Benigno Aquino's Bangsamoro framework, we could write history by our own too by giving Mindanao additional representatives in the senate. Who knows what Zubiri and Pimentel could bring if given the chance. In the midst of an election with a high criminal rate, breaches in election laws, and rumored PCOS machine malfunctions; the biggest election related incident (ERI) would be forgetting to vote for our fellow Mindanaoan.