Gensanportal - Mindanao News Blog

Matanog, Parang, Sultan Kudarat… These are but the few towns in Maguindanao known for being battlefields years ago… Lately, it’s Sharief Aguak and the famous November 23 carnage.

I never thought that I could be in these places. I never thought of travelling along Narciso Ramos Highway and all those places I only saw on TV.

I didn’t feel secured especially when I think about that Ampatuan massacre.  That was the first time I had to travel to Cotabato City, so I am not familiar about the municipalities we had to pass by. 

In the beginning of our trip, I really didn’t feel comfortable at all.  Yet, I was consoled by the beautiful sights I observed as we passed by different municipalities.  All these years, the broadcast media had let us see Maguindanao’s poverty.  But as I see it, the place looks the same as some of the places we have in Zamboanga del Sur.  In fact they are more progressive than us… I didn’t see that starvation could invade those households – they have plenty of rootcrops, vast tracts of lands for rice, corn, banana and coconut produce.  I am sure they too are engaged in fishing as their locality is situated along the sea coast.  I even saw a ranch.  And along the highway, we really had to slow down as cattle, fowl, goats and other livestocks wander freely.  

Here are the pictures I had taken on that trip:

This is one of Matanog's coconut plantations.

Another coconut plantation.

One of Maguindanao's banana plantations

We passed by Sultan Kudarat, Sharief Kabunsuan Province at half past five.

Could this sunset have been a witness to a bloodbath in the previous years?

Commercial Center of Parang, Maguindanao. This is along Narciso Ramos Highway.

This is where the farmers market their produce