From rebel to peacekeeper

Kumander Gubat’s name used to strike fear on the hearts of military officers and soldiers, big businessmen and politicians in the 1970s. He commanded the respect of his men and his turf cut across some politically important towns of Sultan Kudarat. He was then the zone commander of Central Kutawato of the Kutawato State Revolutionary Committee, the military arm of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). Under his command were four battalion commanders of the then biggest Muslim secessionist group fighting for an independent state for Muslim Mindanao. 

To those who survived those troubled times, he remains Kumander Gubat even as he now assumes a different role, that of a development worker. And in the sphere of social development, he also brought back his real identity, not as a nom de guerre, but as Mohamad Mambatawan.

 Mambatawan is now the chairman of the Barangay Renewable Energy and Community Development Association or BRECDA in the mountain village of Chua , some 25 kilometers from the municipality of Bagumbayan and nestling at an altitude of 750 meters above sea level right in the midst of Daguma Range . The organization is composed of beneficiaries of the AMORE Program.  

Barangay Chua, which is at least 10 kilometers from the main power grid, will finally saw the light of electricity with the installation of an 8-kilowatt microhydro facility in Sitio Senagandal of the said village. This facility targets the energization of at least 50 houses, two schools, one mosque, one health clinic, one Madrasah School , three commercial/industrial establishments, 20 streetlights and one battery charging station.

Mambatawan believes that keeping peace and order in the community is very important for more projects to come to their village. “No matter how good the organizing and the number of projects being implemented are, if there is no peace and order in the community, everything is doomed to fail,” he says. Mambatawan says most residents in Chua have experienced living in fear because of the war and are looking forward to a peaceful life.