DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 15 July) — Two weeks.

That’s how long it has been since the newly elected local officials in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao — like their counterparts across the country — took their oath of office, raised their right hands, and assumed the noble yet burdensome mantle of leadership at high noon on June 30.

Two weeks.

Not a long time, but no longer the campaign trail. Not a time for rhetoric. Not a time for reposted memes and tearful endorsements. Not even for political vengeance masked as performance. That door has closed. Another has opened.

In fact, the Ministry of the Interior and Local Government (MILG) has already conducted its on-board training sessions for the new set of governors and mayors — the new chief executive officers of our towns and provinces. There is no more excuse not to move forward.

The people have spoken. The mandates have been given. The time of promises has ended.

Now is the time to work.

And more importantly, now is the time to remember why we work. Why we govern. Why we run for public office in the first place.

Whenever I begin my course on Siratun-Nabi — the life journey of Prophet Muhammad (s) — I always ask my students to pause and reflect on a seemingly simple yet profoundly instructive Surah: Surah Quraysh. It’s not among the long and dramatic ones.

In fact, it’s barely half a page. But its core message is one that rings through time, across deserts and deltas, through minarets and municipal halls.

“Let them worship the Lord of this House. He who has fed them against hunger and secured them from fear.” (Qur’an 106:3-4)

Feeding the hungry. Securing the fearful. That’s it.

These were the very reasons the ancestors of the Prophet were respected in Mecca long before the first revelation — not because of their eloquence, nor their tribal power, nor even their rituals, but because they did two things exceptionally well: they fed people, and they secured the trade routes. They addressed the most basic, most urgent needs of their society — food and safety.

To every newly sworn-in local official in the Bangsamoro: If your administration, your first 100 days, your three-year term, your entire tenure, should accomplish only these two things — food security and peace and order — it would already be a meaningful legacy.

In a region as layered as ours, where the ghosts of conflict still linger in the edges of farmlands and memories, and where poverty walks alongside resilience in every barangay, feeding the hungry is not mere charity.

It is justice. It is policy. It is governance.

Likewise, securing the roads is not just about more checkpoints or patrol cars; it is about restoring confidence in daily life, in safe travel, in peaceful sleep.

No more abstract slogans about “change” or “reform” without substance. If we must chant “moral governance,” then now is the time to show what that looks like. And no, it is not only in quoting verses or wearing cultural garb during flag ceremonies.

Moral governance begins with rice in the pot and safety on the streets. It begins with salaries paid on time and bonuses paid in full, with public offices that open as promised, with leaders who listen more than they speak.

Let us not forget that the Bangsamoro project itself — hard-won through years of struggle, negotiation, and sacrifice — was not merely about self-rule for its own sake. It was about building a political space where justice is not only done but felt by the ordinary Moro, the indigent Teduray, the farmer, the fisher, the widow, the orphan.

So, to our new officials: Your names may be new on the doorplates of the municipal halls. Your photos may have changed on the tarpaulins. But the real measure of your leadership will not be the likes you gather on social media. It will be in how many stomachs are fed, how many students stay in school, how many roads are walked without fear.

This is not a time to bicker. This is not a time to plot revenge or calculate the next election. This is a time to serve.

And if you ever forget what your priority should be, just go back to that Surah.

Feed the hungry. Guard the roads.

Do these two things, and history will remember your name with grace.

#MoralGovernance #BangsamoroLeadership #BARMM2025 #LocalGovernance #PublicService

[MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. Mansoor L. Limba, PhD in International Relations and Shari‘ah Counselor-at-Law (SCL), is a publisher-writer, university professor, vlogger, chess trainer, and translator (from Persian into English and Filipino) with tens of written and translation works to his credit on such subjects as international politics, history, political philosophy, intra-faith and interfaith relations, cultural heritage, Islamic finance, jurisprudence (fiqh), theology (‘ilm al-kalam), Qur’anic sciences and exegesis (tafsir), hadith, ethics, and mysticism. He can be reached at mlimba@diplomats.com and www.youtube.com/@WayfaringWithMansoor, and his books can be purchased at www.elzistyle.com and www.amazon.com/author/mansoorlimba.]