By Ali G. Macabalang
TACURONG CITY – Elected officials of two Maguindanao towns settled amicably in symbolic rite here Wednesday their geopolitical boundary conflict involving more than 7,000 hectares, adhering to a “win-win” solution brokered by provincial and regional authorities.
Mayors Rasul Sangki of Ampatuan and Abdullah Campong of South Upi alongside their vice mayors and municipal councillors signed an agreement stipulating an “equal division” among their towns of 7,941.4 hectares of land along the “overlapped” borders of five component barangays.
Forester Kahal Kedtag, regional secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and Maguindanao Gov. Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu invoked the Solomonic solution in brokering the amicable covenant.
“This (covenant forging) is a breakthrough in our campaign to do away with a protracted legal battle through the usual government arbitration process that would entail substantial time and resources from both camps,” Mangudadatu told reporters covering the symbolic ceremony.
Sec. Kedtag said had asked the governor to help him resolve the boundary conflict along barangays Itaw, San Jose and Pilar in South Upi and barangays Salman and Tubak in Ampatuan appearing to have “overlapped” in a cadastral survey undertaken by the DENR-ARMM across the autonomous region.
He said the survey was conducted last year and completed last June for the geopolitical boundaries of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi and the cities of Marawi and Lamitan, all component areas of ARMM.
“We’re now in the stage of office verification in progress (OVIP) preceding the submission of final results to our main office,” Kedtag said, expressing elation over the out-of-court settlement of the Amppatuan-South Upi border question.
Once the national DENR office received the official results, he said, local boundary conflicts shall be settled through tedious legal proceedings.
Wednesday’s settlement ceremony was hosted by the governor at his family-owned resort here where hundreds of officials from Ampatuan and South Upi towns and observers from different sectors converged.
Similar amicable settlement proceedings were conducted earlier on the borders between Libungan, North Cotabato and Buldon, Maguindanao, enabling the latter town to regain some 20,000 hectares of land, Kedtag said.
He said the DENR-ARMM also completed recently similar interventions on border conflicts in between Basilan towns and Isabela City.
He said his agency’s cadastral survey also showed Lanao del Sur having inter-municipal boundary conflicts, which would be subjected to similar out-of-court soon. (Ali G. Macabalang)
Attached photo caption:
Solominic covenant – Ampatuan town Mayor Rasul Sangki (center), ARMM’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Kahal Kedtag (left) and Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu sign an agreement stipulating an “equal division” of 7,941 hectares of land involved in an “overlapped” cadastral survey on five villages (barangays) in Ampatuan and South Upi towns in symbolic rite Wednesday in Tacurong City. South Upi Mayor Abdullah Campong and all vice mayors and municipal councillors of the two towns also signed the pact at the event. (Ali G. Macabalang)
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