A Visit to Al Haj Murad and the Biggest Mosque in the Country Part 1

In the last week of September 2015, I spent a few days in Cotabato City with the TV Tokyo crew and JICA staff. It was my first time in Cotabato City and upon embarking from the plane, there were already a group of policemen and military aids waiting to pick us up. This gave me an impression that Cotabato City indeed is a dangerous place. From the airport, we proceeded to Alnor Hotel and Convention Center where we will be staying for five days. During the trip, the driver already tipped me off by saying that the owner of Alnor is an MILF commander. Ok, so what else should I be wary of?

The road was smooth, traffic was good, and the sights were no different than the view I see in other places I've been in the country, except there were a lot of Muslims, and mosques, and good-looking police escorts.

This is SInsuat Avenue near PC Hill, Rosary Heights 1, Cotabato City

This is PC Hill aka Pedro Colina Hill, a stone fort towering over the city with a height of 90 feet, housing the Cotabato City Internal Defense Command.

We spent our first day on meetings and R & R. The next day we went to Sultan Kudarat and visited a tilapia farm awarded by JICA to an MILF commander. Yes, we went to an MILF area and all the people surrounding us on that place were MILFs.

This is him, the MILF Commander, on which the name I forgot (sorry po). In fairness to him, he was very kind

The MILF commander toured us around the farm. This livelihood project was given by JICA to MILF to help its members in poverty alleviation.

Another photo of the tilapia farm

I also had a photo op with two elderly Muslim women, I had to ask an interpreter to help me request for a photo op with them

And this is the most unforgettable part of our day (besides me slipping and landing on my butt on our way to the farm)

We managed to make them shake hands, Hooraayyy! (although I wasn't able to capture that part because I was talking to our Special Forces escort)

Will be continuing Part 2 of my Cotabato City stay tomorrow.....