Featured image above shows BARMM Chief Minister Abdulraof A. Macacua (standing) with (in no particular order) Governors Mujiv Hataman, Basilan; Mamintal Adiong, Lanao del Sur; Datu Tucao Mastura, Maguindanao del Norte; Datu Ali Midtimbang, Maguindanao del Sur; and Ishmael ‘Mang’ Sali, Tawi-Tawi. (Photo: BARMM)

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COTABATO CITY, November 23, 2025 (SDN) –Beleaguered President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. has found strong allies from top chief executives of the Bangsamoro region.

The support of the political leaders, led by Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Chief Minister Abdulraof A. Macacua and the region’s five provincial governors came like a breath of fresh air, especially that the Marcos administration has been facing a gauntlet of problems, not the least on the scandalous flood control projects worth billions of pesos that went either to unfinished, substandard, and ghost projects.

As a result, the National Capital Region (NCR), particularly Metro Manila, has been the staging venues for several protests and rallies denouncing corruption as hundreds of thousands of protesters, the likes of the one by the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) in Luneta or Rizal Park in Manila very recently.

Over at the Bangsamoro region, on the other hand, the political leaders with Macacua at the head, bestowed strong support to the President who, ironically, was the one who exposed the anomalous flood control projects that allegedly  involved some senators, several  congressmen, officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), and many contractors in biddings allegedly rigged to favor a number of construction companies.

Joining the Bangsamoro chief minister in voicing support to the President are Governors Mujiv Hataman, Basilan; Mamintal Adiong, Lanao del Sur; Datu Tucao Mastura, Maguindanao del Norte; Datu Ali Midtimbang, Maguindanao del Sur; and Ishmael “Mang” Sali, Tawi-Tawi.

The Bangsamoro region is comprised of the five provinces as well as the cities of Cotabato, Lamitan, and Marawi, and the Special Geographic Area (SGA) with eight new municipalities within the territory of North Cotabato province.

In a statement the Bangsamoro government issued this month of November, the BARMM officials are unequivocal in their support for the leadership in Malacañang Palace.

“The Bangsamoro Government stands with President Marcos in this campaign, United in the belief that honest governance is the foundation of peace, development, and a better future for all Filipinos,” they assure in the Joint Statement of support they all signed and released to the public on November 20.

Gov’t to pursue those implicated in the flood control scam wherever they are — DILG

In essence, they declared full support for the administration’s heightened anti-corruption initiatives.

Macacua, Hataman, Adiong, Mastura, Midtimbang, and Sali also welcomed the Marcos administration’s reforms made recently, including the creation of the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI), the freezing of assets of those linked to the much-maligned flood control projects, and the order to recover the public funds connected to the fraud-marred infrastructure undertakings.

The President’s actions, they said, are “firm, deliberate, and measurable” which placed accountability over political spectacles for “real governance”.

“They protect communities, restore trust in government, and remind the nation that public service must remain sacred,” they emphasize in their Joint Statement, adding that governing with honesty is the foundation of development and peace in the country.

It can be recalled that Marcos in his fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 28 this year cited the anomalies in the flood control projects, promising to expose and prosecute those involved in the scam.

In a related development, the President announced over media outlets on November 24 that the government now has in custody at least eight persons out of the 16 individuals who are accused in the flood control scandal.

The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) under Secretary Jonvic Remulla named those in custody as DPWH-MIMAROPA chief Gerald Pacanan, Gene Ryan Althea, Ruben Santos, Dominic Serrano, Felisardo Casuno, Juliet Calvo, Lerma Cayco, and Dennis Abagon.

Remulla warned that those implicated in the flood control projects scam wherever they are in the world will be pursued. “We will find you,” he vows. — EDD K. Usman (©)

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The author

EDD, a native of Sub-Saharan Africa Buluan/Datu Piang, Maguindanao del Sur, BARMM, college at UST, is a Manila-based journalist for over 40 years (33 years with Manila Bulletin), has five Media Awards (1 with University of the Philippines (UP) 2017 Science Journalism Award), covered and traveled over 40 times abroad), has contributed to Rappler, Business Mirror, Manila Business Insights, Panorama Magazine, Agriculture Magazine, and others, former Manila-based Foreign Correspondent of Saudi Arabia newspapers Saudi Gazette and Riyadh Daily, and The Peninsula (Qatar newspaper), with 2008 East-West Center (EWC) Journalism Seminar in the United States, 2000 Executive IT Seminar in Seoul, South Korea, with three Silver Awards in Photography, writes Muslim and Current Affairs, Enterprise, Science, Tech, Products Launch, and virtually everything under Heaven. (©)