Maguindanao bills set to split province

 The Senate Committee on Local Government chaired by Sen. Francis Tolentino has approved bills seeking to divide Maguindanao into two separate provinces, Northern Maguindanao and Southern Maguindanao.


Tolentino said the current undivided Maguindanao, with a total population of 1,173,933 as of 2015, remains to be one of the poorest provinces in the country despite being blessed with abundant natural resources.


“Reforms must be done in order to remedy this predicament and one way to ensure this is by splitting the province into two,” Tolentino said during the hearing. 


But Maguindanao Rep. Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu, in a manifestation, called on the Senate leadership to instead support House Bill 6413, which he authored, through the adoption of a substitute bill.


“While we respect and appreciate Senator Ramon Revilla Jr. for sponsoring and filing respective counterpart Senate bill toward the realization of a separate but better capacitated and empowered Maguindanao, we would like to request Senator Francis Tolentino, our committee chair, that our prayers and provisions illustrated in HB 6413 be adopted in a substitute bill,” he said.


The House bill and Senate Bills No. 1824 and 1714 authored by Tolentino and Sen. Cynthia Villar, respectively, all seek to partition Manguindanao into two separate provinces under the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).


Under the Senate proposals, 11 towns will comprise Northern Maguindanao, with the capital based in Sultan Kudarat. Southern Maguindanao will carry 25 municipalities, with Buluan as its administrative capital.


For the purpose of this section, Cotabato City shall have its own legislative district effective upon the election and qualification of its representative to be held on the second Monday of May in the year 2022. The incumbent Representatives of the present Province of Maguindanao shall continue to represent their respective legislative districts until the expiration of their term of office.


In the proposed law it stated “Any municipality that may hereafter be created within the jurisdiction of their provinces shall automatically form part of its constituent units.”


The House passed on third and final reading House Bill No. 6413, but it provides for Datu Odin Sinsuat as capital of Northern Maguindanao.


Mangudadatu said with a smaller province, local resource management and the delivery of basic public services would be more efficient, since majority of the local officials and employees could focus on working on programs and projects that would best serve the interests of their constituents.


“As the cliché goes, it is much easier to keep and maintain a smaller house as compared to a huge one. Public service can be made more accessible, closer to the people,” he said.


The Department of Finance’s Bureau of Local Government Finance greenlighted the proposed legislations to divide Maguindanao into two separate provinces, saying the partition is financially compliant under Republic Act No. 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991.


Bureau of Local Government Finance Director Ma. Pamela Quizon said the two proposed provinces would meet the income requirements under the Local Government Code.


Tolentino explained that unlocking Maguindanao’s potential is not just vital to help the people living in the province but to bring down poverty in the entire country.

https://manilastandard.net/lgu/mindanao/337972/maguindanao-bills-set-to-split-province.html

Senate panel OKs bill splitting Maguindanao into 2 provinces

 A bill seeking to divide Maguindanao into two provinces was approved by the Senate committee on local government on Monday.


The Senate panel approved House Bill 6413, which seeks to split the province into Northern Maguindanao and Southern Maguindanao.


Committee chairman Sen. Francis Tolentino said a technical working group would discuss where to place the seat of government in the two provinces.


Datu Odin Sinsuat is being eyed as the capital of Southern Maguindanao and either Buluan or Shariff Aguak in Northern Maguindanao.


Maguindanao Rep. Esmael Mangudadatu, one of the principal authors of the measure, said Southern Maguindanao will be composed of 25 towns while Northern Maguindanao will have 11.


For the purpose of this section, Cotabato City shall have its own legislative district effective upon the election and qualification of its representative to be held on the second Monday of May in the year 2022. The incumbent Representatives of the present Province of Maguindanao shall continue to represent their respective legislative districts until the expiration of their term of office.


In the proposed law it stated “Any municipality that may hereafter be created within the jurisdiction of their provinces shall automatically form part of its constituent units.”


”Not all redistricting is harmful... Politically motivated gerrymandering will worsen wastage of public resources while economically motivated gerrymandering will lead to improved provision of public services,” Mangudadatu said.


https://www.philstar.com/nation/2020/10/28/2052757/senate-panel-oks-bill-splitting-maguindanao-2-provinces

How To Think About Yourself

 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.  Ephesians 1:6, King James Version


C.S. Lewis once wrote that when errors come into the world they come in pairs, as people are driven to one extreme or another.  For example, think of yourself more highly than you ought to and we say you are stuck on yourself–full of pride, arrogant and haughty.  On the other hand, if you constantly belittle yourself, your self‑image crumbles, you're insecure and withdraw from others.


Do you know someone who is actually very capable but has to be constantly assured that she really is skilled and wonderful at her job?  She hasn't learned to accept herself; she cannot stand up for what she really needs and constantly has to be encouraged to cope with her feelings of insecurity.  What about your friend who has gone from job to job because inevitably somebody gets more recognition than he does, and he cannot cope with it.  He is easily offended; and when he is, it is good‑bye.  Pride, or feelings of inferiority–they're both ends of the same pole, both outcomes of struggling with thinking rightly about ourselves.  This is actually a very old human problem.


More than 2,000 years ago, the Apostle Paul wrote to some men and women in the city of Rome and gave them some advice.  He said, "This I say through the grace given to me to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly...." (Romans 12:3).  Writing to the Corinthians, Paul warned of the dangers of pride resulting from feelings that you have "arrived."  He said, "If anyone thinks he stands or is secure, let him take heed lest he fall," (1 Corinthians 10:12).


It is a great relief when you realize that you can bring your feelings to God and learn that He accepts us on the basis of what Jesus Christ did when he gave His life for us.  The Bible says, "God has made us accepted in the beloved," who is Christ (Ephesians 1:6).  When He accepts us, as we become His children through faith, we then enter into a new relationship with Him.  In short, God has a will for the lives of His followers and what happens in our day to day is the outworking of His plan.  It is when we refuse to believe that He has a plan that we are uptight in pushing ourselves forward and nursing our fractured egos when somebody else does better.  We forget the truth of the Psalm which says, "For promotion comes neither from the East nor from the West, nor from the South, but God is the judge; He puts down one and sets up another" (Psalm 75:6).  If someone gets a promotion you wanted, thank God that He has accepted you and put you exactly where He wants you.  This is why Paul wrote, "In every situation, learn to be content" (Philippians 4:11).


At the same time, we aren't to belittle ourselves, thinking that we are worthless.  Take nothing and add Christ to it, and you have something touched by the Divine that is of eternal value.  We cheapen God's grace when think less of ourselves than God does.  God forgave us, so we can forgive ourselves; God loves us, so we can love ourselves; God cares for us so we can trust Him to work His will in our lives.  We can be real with others about who we are and what God has done for us.


Neither pride nor feelings of inferiority produce the kind of men and women who are happy and purposeful in life; but learning to accept the circumstances of life, and trusting God to work His will through them, is the key to contentment with ourselves.


Resource reading: Romans 12: 1-7


https://www.guidelines.org/devotional/how-to-think-about-yourself-2/