MagPEACE scholar tells of success story in college schooling

DAVAO CITY -- It was an emotional reunion between a schooling benefactor and a scholar-turned professional from a poor family who almost even did not know each other.Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu was whiling away time on Saturday at the Abreeza Mall when Ayfa Mangakoy approached and told the governor she finished college with the help of the Maguindanao Program for Education and Community Empowerment (MagPEACE).The MagPEACE, pioneered by Mangudadatu in 2011 while still in his first term as Maguindanao governor, started with only 700 scholars then.MagPEACE now has 6,000 beneficiaries studying in different college institutions in central Mindanao and nearby regions.Mangakoy now works in one of the establishments at the Abreeza Mall in a commercial district in Davao City. I was deeply touched when she introduced herself as a successful beneficiary of MagPEACE, apparently from a poor family that could not afford to sustain her college education, Mangudadatu said.Mangakoy said she finished a Bachelor of Science in Commerce degree at the University of Southern Mindanao (USM) in Kabacan town in the first district of North Cotabato. The MagPEACE paid for my tuition and other schooling needs for four years, she told Mangudadatu during their accidental meeting at the mall.Mangakoy said she had only met Mangudadatu casually during special gatherings of thousands of MagPEACE college scholars.Mangudadatu said all he knows about too are only the number of beneficiaries of MagPEACE and how the managers of the program are providing for their schooling needs. She is more known to my staff taking care of the MagPEACE operation. There are thousands of them but I am not privy to the details of the persona of each of them, Mangudadatu said.Mangudadatu said he is happy that Mangakoy, who graduated from the USM just two years ago, now works in the peaceful and so progressive Davao City, where President Rodrigo Duterte resides.Mangakoy hails from Maguindanao, where Mangudadatu is now serving his third and last term as provincial governor.The province has 36 towns now undoubtedly bouncing back from devastations wrought by armed conflicts and calamities.Islamic militancy in some areas in Maguindanao and the scarcity of employment opportunities due to illiteracy are the two major security issues Mangudadatu is trying to address via educational interventions.Mangudadatu said he is keen on increasing the MagPEACE college scholarship slots to at least 20,000 before his third term ends on June 30, 2019. Education is very important. An educated constituency surely will be peace-loving constituency, he said.Mangudadatu said the MagPEACE scholarship is open to qualified children of members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Moro National Liberation Front.He said many of its beneficiaries now are either children, or relatives of MILF and MNLF members. We can even provide slots to children of members of the radical Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters for them to embrace peace and become productive citizens, Mangudadatu said.Mangudadatu said his planned expansion of the MagPEACE is in support of Duterte’s effort to improve the lives of the underdeveloped Moro communities in Maguindanao and in other southern provinces. We have current MagPEACE beneficiaries from towns outside of Maguindanao, he added.