COTABATO CITY Cotabato is one of the most interesting places in Mindanao, not only as the land of the Magindanaos and the scene of a formidable resistance against Spanish power in Mindanao but also as the government-initiated settlement destination for countless Filipinos under the “land for the landless’ scheme. Furthermore, as the starting point of the Mindanao conflict of the modern times, Cotabato assumes special significance in both historical and socio-cultural studies. Cotabato covered a vast area of some 8,800 square miles of which a quarter was level valley land; a half undulating plateau lands at an average elevation of a...