Traders back newly elected Maguindanao del Norte execs 

COTABATO CITY — Chinese traders were elated with the election of a governor in the fledgling Maguindanao del Norte province who can speak their language and a vice governor who is a businessman.

Tucao Ong Mastura, who is of mixed Moro and Chinese descent, and Marshall Ibrahim Sinsuat were proclaimed as first ever elected governor and vice governor of the barely two-year-old Maguindanao del Norte, respectively, at the venue of the canvassing of election returns in Datu Odin Sinsuat town in the province on Wednesday afternoon.

Mr. Mastura and Mr. Sinsuat aspired for the two elective posts as official candidates of the United Bangsamoro Justice Party of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, whose officials are together managing the now five-year-old Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), the creation of which is a concession to their erstwhile revolutionary organization as part of the government-MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front) peace compact.

Members of the Chinese communities in Cotabato City, the seat of the BARMM government, and in nearby towns in Maguindanao del Norte told reporters on Thursday that they are certain that Mr. Mastura and Mr. Sinsuat, whose families are engaged in businesses, will both focus on programs needed to boost the investment potentials of the province.

A number of Chinese merchants in Cotabato City, the regional capital of BARMM, had stated on Facebook their optimism on improvements soon in the business climate of Maguindanao del Norte with a governor who is close to them and a vice governor whose clan has large-scale fishing ventures in their hometown, Datu Blah Sinsuat, in the western coast of the province.

Mohammad Omar Pasigan, chairman of the Bangsamoro Regional Board of Investments, had told reporters that Chinese businessmen and their spouses had campaigned for Mr. Mastura and Mr. Sinsuat owing to their being connected with the business sectors in Central Mindanao. — John Felix M. Unson