Maguindanao capitol to become a school

COTABATO CITY—The mothballed multimillion Maguindanao provincial capitol building and compound, now the temporary home of the military’s mechanized Army brigade, would soon be converted into a school, officials said.

Education Secretary Armin Luistro gave the green light to Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Toto Mangudadatu who came up with the idea of converting the provincial government structure into an educational institution.

Luistro, who visited Maguindanao on June 2, told reporters that he gave Mangudadatu the go-signal to convert the P120-million three-story former provincial capitol into an educational institution.

The building, mothballed after the 2010 local elections that saw Mangudadatu ascending to the governorship, has a 6,000-square-meter floor area. It was built by the Ampatuans in 2006.

Well-fenced in a six-hectare lot in Shariff Aguak town that also houses a modern wood-tiled gymnasium, the compound, Mangudadatu said, could accommodate more school buildings.

Mangudadatu refuses to hold office at the provincial capitol in Shariff Aguak town, a known bailiwick of the Ampatuan clan, whose members were suspects in the massacre of 53 people, mostly journalists in 2009.

Mangudadatu said he would ask the provincial legal office to find out if there are any legal impediments in the planned conversion.

Mangudadatu moved the provincial government center to his hometown in Buluan after assuming as Maguindanao governor. Edwin Fernandez, Inquirer Mindanao