It looks like the labors of our pen will bear fruit. Recall that in a series of articles, this column raised the complaints of Maranaws to what they perceived as the condescending behavior of the security guards of Matling Industrial and Commercial Corporation, the company's alleged disregard of laws, and the wanton expansion of its area over privately owned lands.

This sparked the interest of many. On several chance meetings, this writer was asked about the progress of our advocacy for justice for the residents.

We posed a challenge to the leadership of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao to address the issue. And, pronto, one of its top officials took up the challenge and filed a resolution before the interim Regional Parliament, the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA), to conduct an inquiry in aid of legislation. It is a welcome development and has reinforced our faith in the relevance and workability of the regional government. The banal "Aksyon Agad" mantra is not, after all, an empty propaganda tool used by government officials to earn "pogi" points.

Member of Parliament Paisalin Tago, a CPA lawyer, the minister of Transportation and Communication, a veteran regional legislator having been Speaker of the Regional Legislative Assembly of the defunct Autonomous Government, the forebear of BARMM, has filed a resolution to investigate the complaint in aid of legislation.

In addition to the traditional plenary powers of a legislative body to conduct an inquiry, MP Tago invoked the Bangsamoro Organic Act, or Republic Act No. 1104, as its principal authority and the pertinent provisions of the law. He fits his role as a chief inquirer to a tee. He has the stature, moxie, and bona fides to initiate the inquiry, being a Maranaw himself who probably has personal knowledge of the issue, and a lawyer enriched with experience in the art of legislation.

I am not sure if this is a first for the BARMM-BTA. But with the decision of MP Tago, the BARMM is sending an equivocal message to one and all that it is sensitive to the problems of the Moros and that it will spare no stone to unearth the veracity of the complaints through the exercise of its autonomous powers. It is visibly flexing its autonomous powers.

In the preambular whereases of the draft resolution, it cites the claim of resident-complainants that "some of these lands are ancestral in nature and therefore the rights of its occupant-owners must be respected . . . (while) Matling is occupying other areas that are outside the original franchise area which resulted in the alarming expansion of Matling's area of operations."