End Of A Christian Era

In Philippine local elections, there is a turnover of leadership as there can also be a retention of political dynasties – and this Third World country has hundreds of these. Cotabato City in Mindanao beats all other cities, however. The 1998 elections virtually ended Christian dominance in politics and the recent elections reaffirmed that. There’s no deep-seated animosity in the city’s politics however and Muslim-Christian cooperation in the officialdom has done a lot in bringing progress to the area.

By Patricio P. Diaz

Cotabato City—Christian officials used to rule Cotabato City virtually unopposed for 31 years – from 1967 to 1998. The Christian era in the city’s political history, so to speak, ended in June 1998. And any prospects of its return were dashed out in the May 14 polls: the elected the mayor, vice-mayor and seven of 10 members of the Sangguniang Panglunsod (City Council) were Muslim.

In the May 1998 election, Muslimin Sema’s election as the first Muslim mayor in 21 years was contested for being fraudulent. But he sat out the length of his term with a city council where Christians and Muslims were evenly represented. Last February Rodel Mañara (a Christian) won in the electoral contest and took over the mayorship until the May elections. Despite the power turnover, the whole period saw a Muslim-Christian political cooperation in the city.

Since 1967

The first Christian mayor of the city, Teodoro V. Juliano, unseated Mayor Datu Mando Sinsuat through an electoral protest in March 1967. Since that year, three Christian mayors had succeeded each other, with two others holding the mayorship for four months each before the election.

Juliano held the mayorship in interrupted terms for about 10 years; Juan J. Ty, also in broken terms, for about nine years; and Ludovico D. Badoy, continuously for 12 years, starting as OIC mayor in 1986. Like Mañara, Virgilio Leyretana held the mayorship for four months before the May 1998 election when, as vice mayor, he took over from Badoy who resigned to run for
the Senate.

All this time, however, two Muslims, Liwa Candao and Angka Biruar, were elected vice mayors. Only one or two Muslims were elected to the 10-member Sangguniang Panglunsod. That was truly a Christian political era.

Growth

Cotabato City grew tremendously during the 31-year Christian era. City revenues increased from a few hundred thousand pesos per year to multi-mullions by 1998. Streets were paved with asphalt or concrete; water, electric and communication services were very much improved. And residential areas expanded by many kilometers southward and eastward.

Before his death in 1984, Mayor Juliano had given Cotabato City the impetus for growth. He had to build from scratch. His successors, Ty and Badoy, had to build on what Juliano had initiated. The Cotabato City of June 1998 was the collective success of the three mayors and their predominantly Christian city councils.

Compared to what it was in 1967, the Cotabato City in 1998 showed tremendous growth. But that growth was turtle pace compared to that of the cities of Davao, Cagayan de Oro and General Santos. Unstable peace and order condition did not allow Cotabato City to grow as it should have.

Challenge

Sema achieved what other Muslim leaders failed to do in the past 31 years. He wrested the mayorship from the Christians. In his success, he earned a challenge: How to accelerate the socio-economic growth of the city.

A native Cotabateño and a long-time resident and prominent professional of the city who has since lived in California, U.S.A., said this in his e-mail to me this week: “I just hope that Sema will be a real mayor to all the people in the city, Muslims and Christians alike. How do you assess his past managership of city affairs? His peace stance?”

In would be difficult to assess Sema’s mayorship from 1998 to February 2001. But that, when he was proclaimed with 10 more election returns still to canvass, his vote was 6,174 more than the 18,727 votes of Mañara and Badoy combined showed that both Muslims and Christians were satisfied with his management of city affairs.

The biggest challenge of Sema is the stability of peace and order, not only in the city, but, in the surrounding municipalities as well. His leadership then will not be confined to the city alone. He has to forge a cooperative leadership with the mayors of the surrounding municipalities for a stable peace and order in the Metro Cotabato area.

As a respected Muslims leader, he is in a better position than any Christian mayor to achieve this. Only with stable peace and order will investors come to Cotabato City. Only then will the growth of the city be accelerated. The socio-economic development of the city will spill over to the neighboring municipalities.

The three musketeers’ “All for one, one for all” or Webster’s “United we stand, divided we fall” describe the imperative challenge to Sema. Alone, no city mayor can stabilize peace and order in the city. Sema knows that.

Sema has gone through many challenges. If he is the Sema I have known since he was a student in college, now Notre Dame University, he will not shirk from this one: Stabilize peace and order to accelerate the growth of the city. His Christian predecessors had given him a good foundation to build on. Bulatlat.com