LANAO del Norte Governor Mohamad Khalid Dimaporo may be a young chief executive at the age of 29 but his vision for his province is comparable to that of politicians who gained wisdom from years of experience in politics.

He was described by his parents, congressman Abdullah and former governor Imelda, as the reluctant politician who initially wanted to shy away from politics thus his decision to study in the United States during college.

Sun.Star accepts donations for victims of Typhoon Ondoy

"Khalid studied in the US for ten years and he planned to work there too kaya pinauwi ko sya dito sa Lanao del Norte. At first he just wanted to concentrate on our agri-business but when he later saw the problem in our province he decided to try politics," Representative Abdullah said.

Mother Imelda admitted having a hard time convincing Khalid to run for governor back in 2007. But due to the father’s convincing power, the young Khalid later relented.

“My father knows how to catch my interest. If I think about it, sometimes I wonder how I ended up being a governor,” Khalid said smiling.

The parents said they see Khalid as the only one who could continue the family’s legacy. The father said Khalid has new bright ideas that old politicians does not appreciate immediately.

“He is young, he brings in new ideas. I think he is also more focused than I am,” he added.

Khalid comes from a lineage of leaders in Mindanao. His great great grandfather is Hadji Alawi Dimakuta who came from a lineage of sultans. And of course his grandfather is the late Mindanao strongman Ali Dimaporo.

The virgin suitor

Aside from his formidable parents, Governor Khalid has also the full support of his wife Christina.

In a casual talk at the office of the governor, Christina revealed how great a husband and a father the governor is.

“He is a great husband, a friend. Someone whom I can confide in and who makes me happy,” was how Christina described Khalid.

They first met in Manila sixteen years ago. Although from the same school, Brent, they were in different campuses: Khalid in Manila and Christina in Baguio.

It must have been love at first sight for Khalid as he readily transferred to Brent Baguio just to pursue Christina.

Asked how the governor wooed her, Christina said Khalid was virtually clueless as a suitor.

“I was more of the guy in our courtship because he had no experience then. I was his first and last girlfriend,” Christina said with a giggle.

After high school, Christina’s parents sent her to the United States to study. Khalid followed her and they enrolled in the same university, the University of San Francisco.

But the couple was married only three years ago and is now blessed with two children. One is one year and eight months and the other is eight months old.

“Married for three years, together since high school,” was how Christina described her relationship with the governor.

The vision

Governor Khalid has great plans for Lanao del Norte. He appreciated his parents’ and grandparents’ legacy that is now helping him achieve his vision.

One particular aspect Khalid is prioritizing is the health care service of the province. Under his administration, Lanao del Norte has the fourth highest Philhealth coverage in the country.

The governor said he also wants Lanao to become one of the health centers in Mindanao thus they are now improving their system and building better health infrastructures for such purpose.

Another vision of the governor is making the more than 70,000 hectares coconut land supply processing plants that locate in Lanao del Norte.

Khalid said many of their coconut plantations have been idle for years now and if investors wanted to make use of the Provincial Agro-industrial Center he would offer it for free in exchange for job generations the province would get.

The image of their province was also affected by the MILF atrocities, Khalid said he will counter this by inviting personalities from Manila to perform in their province.

“That way they will personally see for themselves that Lanao del Norte is peaceful and they will become our ambassadors and spread the word,” Governor Khalid said.

For the past months, several bands, actors and actresses have visited Lanao del Norte and marveled at how beautiful the province is.

Cesar Montano brought with him his whole Singing Bee staff along with wife Sunshine Cruz and singer Geneva Cruz. Actor John Avila also hosted the beauty pageant and band Bamboo held a concert to the delight of the crowd.

In the six days that I have stayed in Lanao del Norte during their 50th founding anniversary, I have observed Governor Khalid to be a no nonsense leader. During the Bamboo concert, he readily called the attention of the police upon observing the mammoth crowd inside the 3,500 sitting capacity gymnasium.

My first impression of the governor was that he is young. Who would believe that a 29-year old could run the affairs of the province and take care of close to half a million people? But he did it, and with flying colors.

Lanao del Norte, under the leadership of this young governor has nowhere to go but up.