PANDAG , Maguindanao (MindaNews / 10 Aug) – Investors interested in gas exploration have started coming to Maguindanao as an energy plant will soon rise in the province, Maguindanao Rep. Zajid Mangudadatu said today.
Maguindanao Rep. Sajid “Dong” Mangudadatu tests on Friday (10 August 18) methane gas emanating from the land below Liguasan Marsh in his hometown of Pandag, Maguindanao using a prototype of an equipment that his group developed. MindaNews photo by FERDINANDH CABRERAgas
He hinted that Chinese and Israeli investors and scientists are scheduled to visit Maguindanao this month.
Mangudadatu said that with the vast deposits of natural gas beneath Liguasan Marsh, “Maguindanao and the country will become like Dubai.”
“When that is realized, our OFWs can come home because job opportunities will be available here,” he added.
He said the marshland will cease to become a battlefield once natural gas production commences.
The vast marshland produces methane gas if deeper digging is made, Mangudadatu claimed, adding that the government may distribute cooking stoves so the locals can use the methane gas while exploration is yet to commence. “Otherwise, these natural resources will be wasted,” he said.
According to a government survey, the marshland – surrounded by the provinces of Maguindanao, North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat – has a 300-kilometer radius of natural gas deposits beneath.
To prove his claim, Mangudadatu showed how to harness methane gas from the area using a prototype model of a device that his group built, installed within his compound here as the source of gas is just nearby. Witnessing his demonstration were soldiers and police officers who came over to accept rebel returnees.
With the Bangsamoro Organic Law signed recently by President Rodrigo Duterte, Mangudadatu is optimistic that peace will now reign in Maguindanao’s rebel-infested communities and convert what used to be a battlefield into a productive area supplying natural gas to locals and nearby areas. (Ferdinandh Cabrera / MindaNews)
