Two newcomers start public functions uniquely

COTABATO CITY --- The newcomers North Cotabato governor and Isabela City mayor broke tradition Monday by starting their first day in office with outdoor activities predecessors never did.

Instead of entertaining well-wishers in her office, the first-termer Gov. Nancy Catamco went around and inspected the provincial hospital and the heavy equipment pool at the capitol in Kidapawan City to assess the serviceability of both outfits.

Catamco, a three-termer congresswoman before she was elected North Cotabato governor on May 13, also appealed to constituents to visit her office if they have complains instead of ranting on Facebook.

“That practice is politically unhealthy and counter-productive. Saboteurs or third parties can exploit your posts on Facebook to foment disunity among sectors in the province,” Catamco told reporters Monday.

In a statement Tuesday, Catamco said she would also focus on devising communication platforms that could link her to her constituent Muslim, Christian and Lumad constituent-municipal and barangay officials.

North Cotabato, which covers 17 towns and more than 40 barangays in Kidapawan City, is home to culturally-pluralistic Moro, Christian and non-Moro indigenous, or Lumad groups.

In Isabela City in Basilan province, hundreds of volunteers led by Mayor Sitti Djalia Turabin-Hataman and Vice Mayor Kifli Hataman collected on Monday some 10 tons of garbage along streets to mark the start of their citywide cleanliness and sanitation campaign.

The waste collection and disposal problems in Isabela City persisted unchecked in the past nine years, according to barangay officials and members of the media community in Basilan and in nearby Zamboanga City.

Monday’s multi-sectoral waste collection activity in Isabela City was supported by the Basilan Ulama Supreme Council, comprised of Islamic theologians, among them Ustadz Alzad Sattar of the Bangsamoro parliament and volunteers from units of the Philippine National Police and the Army’s 104^th Brigade.

Turabin-Hataman, former representative of the Anak Mindanao Party-list, said she is grateful to Isabela City residents for helping clean strategic roadsides and intersections were there are large heaps of mixed non-biodegradable and biodegradable wastes.

Residents of Isabela City, among them barangay officials, posted on Facebook their fascination on the activity that seemed to have closed the gaping religious, political and cultural divides among the local Muslim and Christian communities.

Turabin-Hataman said she would focus attention on resolving Isabela City’s garbage problem and the perennial flooding in its main commercial hub immediately after a heavy downpour despite being near to the sea where floodwaters can be diverted to via proper engineering intervention.