Ampatuan, an ally of President Arroyo, said he strongly supports the government’s peace negotiations with the country’s largest Muslim separatist rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
"My administration supports every inch of the initiatives initiated by the national government to bring long-lasting peace to Mindanao. We call on all Muslims and Christians to rally behind the call for peace," the former Shariff Aguak mayor said.
Ampatuan, the scion of one of Mindanao’s most respected families, was installed last Sept. 30 by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita.
He scored a landslide victory last August over Muslim cleric Mahid Mutilan and former mayor-turned-trader Ibrahim Paglas.
Ampatuan got 549,480 votes. Mutilan was second with 207,500 votes, and Paglas, third with 87,456.
He replaced former rebel leader Parouk Hussin and installed as the fifth governor of the Muslim autonomous region.
"We should now realize our long and bitter struggle for peace. The talks between the government and the MILF are now progressing, and we should sustain this to achieve long and lasting peace in Mindanao.
"We will all pursue this through peaceful means, and the healing should now be our utmost concern if we want to push real development in the essence of solidarity and collective endeavors," Ampatuan said.
Arroyo opened the peace talks with the MILF in 2002 in an effort to end more than three decades of hostilities in Southern Philippines. The MILF is fighting for a separate homeland in Mindanao.
Ampatuan said he would work for the development of Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur and turned these provinces from wartorn areas to eco-tourism destinations, noting their beautiful and pristine beaches, caves and dive resorts.
"We will develop these areas into a major tourist destination in the Philippines and promote our rich history, culture and heritage, and we will erase the wrong perception that the Muslim autonomous region is a war-ravaged area. Islam means peace, and our people are friendly," he said.
He said he will work closely with all provincial governors and work harder to help improve the living standards of more than two million poor Muslims in the autonomous region. He did not say where he would get the money for infrastructure and development projects in the provinces.
But most of the development projects in the ARMM are funded with grants from foreign countries like Saudi Arabia, Japan and the United States.
