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Changing of the guard: BARMM women find empowerment
May 4, 2025
(First of a series)
Datu Hoffer Ampatuan, Maguindanao del Sur—Samarudin Guimalil Mentong knew that peace, not war, was the key to a better life.
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At 20 years old, he had taken over as commander of Camp Omar in the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) war against the government.
But as a peace agreement took hold, Samarudin, a high school graduate, welcomed development initiatives by aid workers in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
He was elected president of the people’s organization (PO) in his barangay two years ago under a novel, bottom-up community-driven program. Here, the people chose from proposals of livelihood projects by donors and aid groups during consultation meetings.
A strapping 35-year-old with Arab looks and a military bearing, Samarudin had just attended a three-hour meeting last September and had hitched a ride to the highway on his way home when gunmen struck, killing him and his two aides.
The MILF commander had survived two previous attacks in his corn farm, said his wife, Muslima, 34. She said her husband had told her the night before that should anything happen to him, she should continue what he had begun.
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“You should go on, even if you do it with a heavy heart,” said Muslima, then vice president of the 28-member PO, her eyes misty. “That is what the people want.”
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