Japan-funded training center launched in ARMM

COTABATO CITY – Officials from Japan and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao held a groundbreaking rite here Monday for the construction of the P28.8-million their Friendship Hall and Training Center (FHTC), drawing public applause on what host leaders described as a sign of sustained Japan-Philippines strong diplomacy.

Japanese Deputy Chief of Mission Minister Motohiko Kato led the formal ceremony assisted by ARMM Executive Secretary Naguib Sinarimbo.

The construction of the training center is financed through the Counter-value Fund of Japan’s Non-Project Grant Aid for the Philippines and part of Japan’s commitment to help enhance the ARMM government’s human resource capacity, Sinarimbo said.

Aside from housing the ARMM Development Academy (ADA), which takes lead in the ARMM’s human resource development, the JAFHTC will serve as venue to a lineup of activities primarily aimed at the human resource development of ARMM.

About 90 trainings, workshops and seminars are set to be held at the training center once it is completed, according to a press release from the Embassy of Japan.

Kato reaffirms “Japan’s continuous commitment and friendship to support efforts of the ARMM government to achieve sustainable development.”

He said “Japan considers its assistance for Mindanao to be one of the three main pillars of its ODA [Official Development Assistance] for the Philippines” and the assistance that their country provides to ARMM is one of the three main development objectives of their assistance policy for Mindanao.

ARMM Acting Governor Ansaruddin Adiong conveyed the gratitude and appreciation of the people of ARMM to Japan for its unrelenting support.

He said this latest Japan-funded project instills an “overwhelming hope and excitement” to the regional government in view of the “beneficial activities” that will be held in it.

Japan remains one of the main donor countries providing ODA to ARMM.

Last month alone, the region has witnessed a litany turnover rites for strategic infrastructure projects financed by the Government of Japan.

Moreover, the ARMM Social Fund Project (ASFP) – the biggest poverty-alleviation project in ARMM – is funded, in part, by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Sinarimbo tags the JAFHTC as an icon of the mutual cooperation and partnership between Japan and the ARMM.

He said the building will be a “modern and convenient infrastructure” that would help improve the region’s human capacity. (Edited by AGM, BPI-ARMM)

P14.30 daily wage hike mulled in ARMM

COTABATO CITY – Labor authorities of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) have assured to raise daily minimum wage by at least P14.30 for workers in the two cities and five component provinces of the region.

ARMM’s Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) regional secretary Myra Alih said her agency would undergo after the May 10 elections a series of consultations for the local labor forces’ demand for wage increase this year.

Speaking at Labor Day celebration here on May 1, clarified that the proposed wage hike has no definite ceiling but it will not be more than P14.30 just to augment the wages of our workers.

The ARMM’s celebration of the Labor Day was also highlighted by the awarding of summer job qualifiers under the Special Program for Employment of Students (SPES) program for 1,525 students in the entire region.

Alih said that 440 licensed nurses are now ready for deployment to the rural areas in all component provinces of the ARMM under the Nurses Assigned in Rural Services (NARS) program.

She said the Youth Employment and Migration (YEM) Program was also in progress to cater to concerns of out-of-school youth in the region.

Alih commended the local and international companies in the ARMM for providing more job opportunities to skilled workers in the region.

With the theme “Manggagawang Pilipino, Kaagapay sa Pagbabago,” the Labor Day fete here also acknowledged the substantial contributions of private establishments in the region by awarding them certificates as most outstanding private establishments and employees/workers.

Regional executive secretary Naguib Sinarimbo graced the local celebration, lauding the regional labor force’s “cooperative” stance with the pace of development in ARMM.

“As we in the public sectors remember the importance of this day, we also hope that our social partners would also do a recollection and reaffirmation of the belief that labor rights and standards of work need not be sacrificed at the altar of business and economic development,” Sinarimbo said.

Sinarimbo and Alih underscored the adoption of focused policies and strategies on labor concerns by the present ARMM leadership under acting Regional Governor Ansaruddin Adiong as a part of its regional strategic plan aimed at bringing the region to greater heights.

The celebration activities included a parade, parlor games; jobs fair; awarding of outstanding private establishments and outstanding employees/workers in the region; and Cultural Presentation. (Ali G. Macabalang)

ARMM to pursue P206 M agri-development projects in 2010

Cotabato City - The Department of Agriculture and Fisheries of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (DAF-ARMM) will be pursuing diverse agricultural development projects amounting to P206-million this year under the Mindanao Rural Development Program (MRDP).

MRDP is a long-term poverty alleviation program of the national government through the Department of Agriculture (DA), funded from a loan from the World Bank and equity from Local Government Units (LGUs).

The project is now on the third year of the second phase of its implementation, which started in 2007, and will run for five years.

This year, a total of P2 billion worth of projects, which include the construction of farm-to-market roads, post-harvest facilities and other infrastructures, have been targeted by different regions across Mindanao with ARMM posting the highest target of P206 million, according to the DA.

These infrastructures are expected to improve the lives of thousands of farmers and increase farm production.

DAF-ARMM Secretary Lomala Balindong said the region excelled in the implementation of the Community Fund for Agricultural Development (CFAD), a component program of the MRDP, in a recent assessment overseen by the World Bank.

Sixty percent of the target projects under this component have already been completed while the remaining 40% are now being undertaken, he said.

He said CFAD has benefitted a total of 3,362 farmers all over the region with the completion of 55 out of the 71 community sub-projects amounting to P18 million and the ongoing implementation of 8 others.

Balindong said lined-up projects for this year are intended to provide farmers and fisherfolks in the region with long-lasting support in the improvement of their harvests and living condition. (bpiarmm)

Task group holds final consultation on ARMM's gender code

DAVAO CITY – A task group helping draft the Gender and Development Code of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) has held its final lap of consultative meetings here with Muslim religious leaders as a prelude to the legislation of the code.

The Technical Working Group (TWG) of the Regional Sub-committee on Gender and Development (RSCGAD) gathered comments and suggestions from invited participants of the April 7 and 8 consultations here on the draft of the gender code.

The consultation intends to comprise and conform to the official position of the Muslim Religious Leaders on the religious and contentious provisions of the ARMM GAD Code.

The ARMM’s GAD Code is envisioned to be the regional translation of the Republic Act 9710 known as the Magna Carta of Women that was recently passed by Congress and signed into law by Pres. Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo.

DILG-ARMM assistant secretary and GAD Code Technical Working Group (TWG) chair Sharifa Pearlsia.Dans said the adoption of the code could be “a regional landmark legislation that promotes and protects women’s rights in different areas and responds to gender issues and concerns affecting women and children in the region”.

Like the Magna Carta of Women, the Code affirms the role of women in nation building and ensures the substantive equality of women and men, young and old.

It also promotes empowerment of women and pursues equal opportunities for women and men, boys and girls, ensures equal access to resources and to development results and outcomes in the region.

“Our advocacies are more on re-inventing initiatives, mechanism, public policy agenda suitable to our “Muslimness” and to our region’s geographical configuration", said Ms. Tarhata Maglangit, the commissioner of the ARMM Regional Commission on Bangsamoro Women (RCBW) for Maguindanao province.

Commissioner Maglangit hopes that this consultation with the Muslim Religious Leaders can widen the wisdom of opportunities for the Bangsamoro women’s participation in advancing gender and development agenda.

The final draft of the ARMM GAD Code will be submitted to the ARMM Regional Legislative Assembly (RLA) for enactment into law.

The Code will be sponsored by Maguindanao 1st District Assemblyman Abdulradzak Tomawis and Speaker Reggie Sahali-Generale of Lone district of Tawi-Tawi as co-sponsor.

Series of provincial consultations have been conducted by the RSCGAD-ARMM technical working group since last year last, gathering local government stakeholders and development partners to brainstorm on issues and concerns involved in the prospected legislation of the code.

The said consultation participated in by Muslim Religious Leaders coming from the different component provinces of the ARMM has been spearheaded by the RCBW and the RSCGAD in the autonomous region in partnership with the the Commission on Population-XII and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). (bpi-armm)

ARMM to receive fresh AusAID support in education

Cotabato City - The Government of Australia plans to provide a long-term support to the improvement of the quality and access to education in the Autonomous Region in Muslim in Mindanao (ARMM) through the introduction of another round of assistance that builds on the successes of the now concluded eight-year Basic Education Assistance for Mindanao (BEAM) project.

Ramon Bobier, BEAM project director, said the new program called Implementation Support to Design BEAM ARMM is not a continuation of BEAM but a discrete set of activities over a 12-month period that aims to maintain the momentum of education reforms in ARMM and to support the design of the Government of Australia’s (GoA) longer term assistance in the region. The planned long term education assistance would be implemented in the five provinces and 1 city of ARMM.

Efforts are now being undertaken to draw up the new project through a 12-month implementation support to BEAM-ARMM design with the involvement of several stakeholders. The new phase will include the implementation of a peace education framework specifically tailored to suit the needs of children in the region.

School and regional officials of the Department of Education (DepEd)-ARMM have recently participated in a two-day workshop forum on peace education sponsored by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID). The peace education framework will be able to introduce and integrate best peace concepts and culture into the curriculum and systematically build peace in the minds of the children.

A handout given during the forum describes peace education as education that is geared toward a culture of peace, which the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) defines as “a growing body of shared values, attitudes, behaviors and ways of life based on: nonviolence, respect for fundamental rights and freedoms; understanding, tolerance and solidarity; sharing and free flow of communication; and full participation and empowerment of women.”

ARMM Education Secretary, Hamid Aminodin Barra, said peace education framework in ARMM should have Islamic teachings as its foundation.

Barra, who provided an input on Islamic framework on peace and respect for human dignity in the forum, averred that the Islamic context must always be considered in any project that will be undertaken in the ARMM.

He also allayed apprehensions that this extremism is a “religious excesses, going beyond the limits and transgressing permitted bound” as he emphasized that “Islam is a religion of moderation.”

The AusAID-BEAM project, which officially ended in November of last year, has helped improved the learning outcomes of school children in the region in English, Science and Math and increased accessed of those living in remote and depressed communities to education with its wide-ranging and innovative schemes.

ARMM, however, continues to lag behind other regions in terms of literacy and needs more help to change this trend.

The new AusAID support will focus on the particular education needs of ARMM with its unique culture and diverse populace taken into consideration. (bpiarmm)

Women Empowerment

Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) executive director Ms. Emmeline Versoza explains to participants of the Conference on Magna Carta of Women the salient provisions of the Republic Act 9710 otherwise known as the Magna Carta of Women on Tuesday, March 23, 2010 in Cotabato City. The conference was one of the activities on the month-long celebration of the Women’s Month this March with the theme “Babae, Tagumpay Ka Ng Bayan” spearheaded by the Regional Commission on Bangsamoro Women (RCBW-ARMM). (bpi-armm)

Smart and Young Leaders

Lanao del Sur 1st District Assemblyman Ziahur Rahman Alonto Adiong (1st from Left) joins the group of young lady officials of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) as panelists and resource speaker during the Conference on the Magna Carta of Women here in Cotabato City on March 23. Also shown (from Left-Right) are Atty. Christina Hawtay Jovero, OIC, regional director of the Commission on Human Rights –Region 12 and ARMM; DTI-ARMM regional secretary Atty. Asnairah Batua; Phil. Commission on Women executive director Ms. Emmeline Versoza as the Resource Speaker; ARMM Bureau on Cultural Heritage (BCH) executive director Atty. Bai Ashrafiah Aymee Biruar and Regional Legislative Assembly Gender and Development (GAD) focal person Atty. Bai Ysrahayda Sinsuat. Assemblyman Adiong delivered the message of the ARMM acting regional governor Ansaruddin Alonto Adiong on the conference. (bpi-armm)

ARMM conducts consultation on GAD Code and Magna Carta of Women

24 March 2010

COTABATO CITY – Concerned sectors and stakeholders are pushing for the adoption of Gender and Development (GAD) Code for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in a bid to empower resident-women and enable them to participate in local development undertakings.

The Regional Commission on Bangsamoro Women (RCBW) and the Regional Sub-Committee on Gender and Development (RSCGAD) conducted their final consultation in Maguindanao on the draft GAD Code in the region and a conference on Magna Carta of Women here on March 22 and 23, respectively.

The activity was the last of the series of provincial consultations concerning the drafting of the GAD Code, gathering local government stakeholders and development partners to brainstorm on issues and concerns involved in the prospected legislation of the code.

The adoption of the code could be “a regional landmark legislation that promotes and protects women’s rights in different areas and responds to gender issues and concerns affecting women and children in the region”, said DILG-ARMM assistant secretary and GAD Code Technical Working Group (TWG) chair Sharifa Pearlsia.Dans.

The “implementation of the ARMM GAD Code will give best chances to the rural men and women to enjoy various basic programs and services, create greater participation of women in socio-economic development and active representation in the local legislative bodies in the discussion of their needs and wants”, stressed RCBW-ARMM and RSCGAD Chairperson Jasmin Domado.

The ARMM GAD Code is envisioned to be the regional translation of the Republic Act 9710 or the Magna Carta of Women that was recently passed and signed into law by Pres. Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo.

Like the Magna Carta of Women, the Code affirms the role of women in nation building and ensures the substantive equality of women and men, young and old.

Moreover, it also promotes empowerment of women and pursues equal opportunities for women and men, boys and girls, ensures equal access to resources and to development results and outcomes in the region.

In his message read by Lanao del Sur 1st District Assemblyman Ziahur Rahman Adiong during the conference on the Magna Carta of Women, ARMM acting regional governor Ansaruddin Alonto Adiong said that “the current developments that takes place before us with respect to women are truly inspiring”.

“Women of today have remarkably conquered many frontiers on modern enlightenment and empowerment. Indeed, enlightenment and empowerment are inseparable from each other as there could be no empowerment in the absence of enlightenment,” added Adiong.

Meanwhile, a final review and consultation with the Muslim Religious Leaders (MRLs) is scheduled sometime next month to comprise and conform to their official position on the contentious provisions of the ARMM GAD Code.

The final draft of the ARMM GAD Code will be submitted to the ARMM Regional Legislative Assembly (RLA) for enactment into law.

Maguindanao 1st District Assemblyman Abdulradzak Tomawis will sponsor the Code and Speaker Reggie Sahali-Generale as co-sponsor.

The GAD Code consultation was spearheaded by the Regional Commission on Bangsamoro Women (RCBW) in line with the celebration of the National Women’s Month in coordination with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Commission on Population (PopCom) XII and Regional Planning and Development Office (RPDO-ARMM). (bpi-armm)

Displaced workers' financial benefits

Asmad Enok, serving the government for over 20 years (left), receives a check worth more than P600,000 representing his monetized terminal leave following his displacement from the abolition by the Supreme Court of the Shariff Kabunsuan (SK) provincial government at simple rites last Monday at the ARMM complex in Cotabato City. Shown handing the check is Maguindanao OIC-Governor Gani Biruar as former SK acting Governor Ibrahim Ibay Jr. (right), Maguindanao OIC-Vice Governor Nariman Ambolodto (second from left) and ARMM Executive Secretary Naguib Sinarimb (center) look on. Enok is one of 167 personnel belonging to the first batch of check recipients from P40-million fund released earlier by the national government. (Ali G. Macabalang)

Kabunsuan’s displaced workers get P40-M benefits

March 23, 2010

COTABARTO CITY – After more than a year of waiting in anxiety, displaced workers of the defunct Shariff Kabunsuan province finally started getting their monetized terminal leaves under the fresh leadership of the Maguindanao provincial government.

OIC-Maguindanao Governor Gani Biruar personally distributed checks to 167 initial beneficiaries in formal ceremonies last Monday at the cultural center of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) compound here.

ARMM Executive Secretary Naguib Sinarimbo, representing acting Regional Governor Ansaruddin Alonto-Adiong, in a brief speech, said the displaced personnel of the Supreme Court-abolished Shariff Kabunsuan provincial government “deserved prompt attention and every penny of their benefits.”

Sinarimbo’s remark drew resounding applauses from the beneficiaries, who admitted having suspected “something fishy” in the delayed release of their monetized terminal leaves accruing from their separation from service as a result of a Supreme Court order dissolving Shariff Kabunsuan in 2008.

Biruar said that upon his installation to office by Adiong as OIG-governor last February 24, he started receiving formation about the availability in bank of P40-million earmarked for the terminal leaves of the first batch of displaced Shariff Kabunsuan personnel.

“We got confirmation in our verifications from the DBM (Department of Budget and Management) that the fund was indeed for the terminal leaves of the 167 displaced workers. So, on order of the acting ARMM governor, we promptly prepared the checks and distributed them today,” Biruar said Monday.

Biruar expressed what he described as “immeasurable joy” over the release of the displaced personnel’s terminal pays, stressing that “justice is defined simply as giving Cesar what is due to Cesar.”

Monday’s recipients of checks belonged to the first batch of personnel of the defunct province whose application for terminal leaves were received and processed as early as early last year, it was learned.

The amounts in the checks ranged from the smallest one-year terminal leave of P7,000 to the biggest sum of P600,000 allotted to at least three displaced ranking personnel who have served the government for over 20 years, official records showed.

Biruar said there are more than 200 other displaced personnel of the defunct province who were still deciding either to apply for monetized terminal leaves or seek reemployment in the provincial government of Maguindanao.

Shariff Kabunsuan was created in 2006 out of Maguindanao province via legislation by the ARMM Regional Assembly. In 2008, however, the Supreme Court issued a ruling nullifying the process because of the assembly’s lack of power to create a Congressional district. The power belongs to Congress.

Over 400 of the personnel of the Maguindanao province, who joined the provincial government of Shariff Kabunsuan, have been displaced following the Supreme Court order. (Ali G. Macabalang)

Benefits of defunct Shariff Kabunsuan’s personnel readied

COTABATO CITY - The monetized terminal leaves of personnel of the defunct Shariff Kabunsuan provincial government will be released on Monday, March 22 in formal rites at the cultural center of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) compound in Cotabato City .

This was announced today by Maguindanao OIC-Governor Gani Biruar, who has successfully worked out with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) the release of the monetized terminal leaves of over 100 personnel affected in the earlier dissolution of the Shariff Kabunsuan province.

In a press statement through the ARMM’s Bureau of Public Information (BPI), Biruar said the original schedule of the distribution ceremony was postponed from March 18 to March 22 in view of the coming visit in ARMM of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on the former date.

“We have to reset the date of the distribution ceremony (March 18 to 22) in order to provide us full time in releasing the monetized terminal leaves to individuals concerned,” Biruar said.

Biruar, who was in Manila as of press time to attend the 1st special meeting of the ARMM’s Regional Economic and Development Planning Board (REDPB), appealed to recipient personnel to bring identification credentials to revceive their monetized terminal leaves.

He advised those personnel who could not come personally during the rites to send their representatives with corresponding powers of attorney, starting at 1:00 p.m. on Monday, March 22.

The DBM has prepared the monetized terminal leaves for personnel of the then Shariff Kabunsuan provincial government who have been displaced as a result of the Supreme Court resolution last year dissolving the province due to the legal infirmities in its earlier creation by the ARMM regional assembly.

Some personnel of the dissolved provincial government have been rehired in their mother units in the Maguindanao provincial government.

However, more than 100 others have not been absorbed, and were therefore given monetized terminal leaves, Biruar said. (AGM/bpi-armm

Enhanced alliance on poverty-alleviation

Acting ARMM Governor Ansaruddin A. Adiong and Social Welfare Secretary Celia Yangco shake hands after signing their memorandum of agreement enhancing implementation of the anti-poverty Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) in the autonomous region in sidelights of Monday’s first meeting among foreign donor-institutions and ARMM executives in Metro Manila, as witnessing local officials look on enthusiastically. (Omar Mangorsi/bpi-armm)

DSWD inks MOA with ARMM on intensified 4Ps program

March 17, 2009

COTABATO CITY – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has forged with the new leadership of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao a memorandum of agreement to ensure an intensified implementation of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) in the poverty-laden ARMM communities.

DSWD Secretary Celia C. Yangco and acting ARMM Governor Ansaruddin Alonto-Adiong signed the MOA at the unprecedented meeting Monday in Metro Manila of officials of over a dozen foreign donor-organizations and institutions and executives of the regional autonomous government.

In her brief speech, Sec. Yangco said the forging of the MOA was meant to replicate if not enhance in the autonomous region the 4Ps implementation mode and ensure effective poverty-alleviation efforts especially in the conflict areas of ARMM.

The 4Ps, one of major anti-poverty government interventions, is a five-year program of the Arroyo administration launched in 2008 through the DSWD amid the global economic meltdown.

It is funded by international donors including American Development Fund, World Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), whose officials in the country attended the Monday’s foreign donors’ meeting with ARMM officials.

It provides small cash grants to identified extremely poor families with the condition that the money will be spent for health and education of their children particularly from zero-to-fourteen (0-14) years of age.

In ARMM where the country’s highest rate of malnutrition and school dropouts has been recorded, the program has gained momentum with the recent creation of the advisory committee (RAC) to intensify efforts against poverty and improve the health, nutrition, education and economic condition of the local populace.

The DSWD leads the RAC with the Department of Health (DOH), Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Regional Development Planning Office (RPDO) and the ARMM’s Bureau of Public Information (BPI) as members.

The RAC aims to effectively implement the 4Ps and translate national policies into region-specific operational guidelines, according to DSWD-ARMM acting Secretary Pombae Kader, who witnessed Monday’s MOA signing rites alongside other regional cabinet members.

In his response speech, acting Governor Adiong said the forging of the MOA would further boost the operations of the RAC in carrying out efforts prescribed under the 4Ps.

“With everything in place, we can no reason for gray areas in ARMM areas as far as the 4Ps implementation is concerned," Adiong stressed.

In an interview, Asec. Kader said the 4Ps has targeted 92,000 families in the region, each earmarked with P1,400 monthly subsidy for five years for health services and education of three (3) children. Each child will have P300 education or a total of P900 for the three children while the P500 will be used for the family’s basic health service.

As of August 2009 nation-wide, the program increased its target beneficiaries from 700,000 to one million households in 2008, entailing the government to increase its budget from P5-billion to P10 billion, a DSWD report said.

In the ARMM, as of August 2009, the program then covered 15 towns, serving some 30,000 households that received roughly P58 million, the report said, adding that 57 more towns and approximately 70,000 households are targeted in the region in five years. (Ali Macabalang / BPI-ARMM)

ARMM free port declaration

Acting Regional Governor Ansaruddin Adiong (seated second from right) signs a proclamation declaring the Polloc Port in Parang, Maguindanao a Free Port and Barangay Polloc a Special Economic Zone at a convergence among officials of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and foreign donor-institutions in Metro Manila on Monday as Japan Embassy second Secretary Hirochika Namekawa (right), Counsellor Hussain Ibrahim Al-Badr of Qatar Embassy (middle), ARMM Speaker Reggie Sahali-Generale, Regional Cabinet Secretary Ila Manalocon (extreme left) and other regional executives shown standing look on enthusiastically. (Ali G. Macabalang)

Maguindanao wharf declared ARMM’s free port

March 16, 2010


PARANG, Maguindanao – Bouncing back from what technocrats lamented as operational deprivation in power devolution, the Polloc Port here finally sees a ray of light in its two-decade quest to open investments and stimulate growth in the impoverished Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).


The prospects brightened after acting ARMM Governor Ansaruddin A. Adiong declared Monday the facility as a Free Port and the host barangay Polloc as a Special Economic Zone in the autonomous region.


Adiong signed the proclamation in formal ceremonies highlighting the equally unprecedented convergence of top ARMM officials and heads of over a dozen of foreign donor-institutions at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel in Madaluyong City Monday morning.


Lawyer Ishak Mastura, chairman of the ARMM Board of Investment, extolled the proclamation, saying: “We’ve waited long for this proclamation and we are grateful to Acting Regional Governor Adiong for doing it in pursuit of his vision to spur accelerated growth in the region.”


Mastura, then Trade and Industry regional secretary, conceived and pushed for the declaration of the regional economic zone and the free port during the first ARMM business congress in 2003.


Polloc Port Manager Harry Mohammad said the declaration marked a “historic beginning for the facility, not anymore as a ‘vision of the future’ after years of operation weathering political upheavals, natural and man-made calamities that characterized the Mindanao conflict.”


Mohammad said the Port was dubbed as “vision of the future” when it was constructed in the late 70s by the Korean Nam Kwang Construction, Ltd. with P150-million fund from the Asian Development Bank under the Marcos era.


The Polloc Port was classified then by the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) as the country’s “most modern facility outside Metro Manila equipped with main wharf, lighter docks, transit sheds and wide back-up areas fit for medium industries and processing plants, he said.


The ARMM government under the Aquino administration named the Polloc Port an international facility, pursuing an uphill campaign to make it a stimulus of regional economic growth.


The momentum, however, nose dived when the national government through the PPA devolved the operations of wharves in ARMM including Port of Polloc to the regional autonomous governance sans the manpower item-positions and the corresponding funds in 2002


In recent problem-solving meetings, regional officials led by ARMM Executive Secretary Naguib Sinarimbo had crafted measures to push for the immediate declaration of the facility as free port and enhance its operations from the grim effects of the lamentable devolution process, setting up Monday’s occasion.


According to Sinarimbo and Mohammad, Monday’s declaration posed a “hard work” for the new ARMM leadership to “buck down to work and realize a giant mission of achieving a vibrant maritime hub” in mainland Mindanao .


The ARMM officials appealed to maritime industry players and foreign donor-institutions to “help us attain this goal and push the ARMM towards a greater height.”


In response, officials of the World Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency, Asian Development Bank, Canadian International Dev’t Agency, Asia Foundation, International Labor Organization, USAID, UNFPA, UNIDO, ILO, UNDP and other foreign institutions assured continued assistance to ARMM.


ARMM is composed of the cities of Marawi and Lamitan and the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, which all have been lagging behind in various development dimensions.


National authorities have blamed the ARMM’s slow growth to peace and order problems, but regional economists argued that the region’s dismal share from the central government funding supports coupled with stringent national laws and policies is the “main impeding factor.”


In his campaign salvo, manager Mohammad said the free port would attract potential partners and investors for industrial estates, export processing, free trade, commercial centers, enterprises and tourism ventures, among others.


He said the port, being the major trading backdoor in the south, would initially operate actively in the commercial ventures of the Brunei , Indonesia , Malaysia and Philippines ’ East Asian Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA).


Tax holidays, capital equipment incentives, exemptions from real property and local taxes, and attractive build-operate and transfer scheme await investors in Barangay Polloc, the just-declared special economic zone, which lies in the southern coast of the harbour 14-kilometer north of Cotabato City, he said. (Ali G. Macabalang)

PRO ARMM WILL HOST THE 17th Leg Transformation Caravan of the PNP headed by C,PNP himself

March 9, 2010

The advance party of C,PNP’s Project Management Staff and Senior Police Officers composing the Transformation Caravan will be arriving at Awang Airport today. This is part of the 17th Leg Transformation Caravan program headed by the C,PNP himself.

The PNP Integrated Transformation Program or the ITP was born three years ago. Since then, various institutional changes within the PNP have been implemented. The main thrust of this program is to bring about a better, faster and more effective delivery of police services to the public.

On March 10-12, 2010, the Police Regional Office ARMM will host the 17th leg of transformation caravan spearheaded by no less than highest officer of the PNP PDGEN JESUS A VERZOSA, CPNP.

The series of activities to be undertaken by the Regional Office are geared towards raising the level of consciousness of the PNP personnel and the community at large of the role that the PNP has over the community and the important participation of the community towards achieving a lasting peace and development to our society. These activities also help foster and strengthen the commitment of our personnel towards their duties and responsibilities.

Main highlight of which is the torch run to be conducted on March 12, 2010, Friday. The PNP ITP Torch relay will start at 5:00 o’clock in the morning from Regional Science High School, Brgy. Sarmiento with warm-up exercises to be lead by RSTU (Regional Special Training Unit) personnel and will end at PRO ARMM Grandstand, Camp BGen SK Pendatun, Parang, Maguindanao. The Regional Director PCSUPT BEINVENIDO LATAG, members of the Command Group, Directorial Staff, BC, 15th RPSMB, C,RHSG and Chief, NASUs/NOSUs will join C,PNP VERZOSA in the said relay.

Participants of the event include personnel from the AFP, force multipliers, NGOs, Private sectors, Religious Sectors and students. They are expected to arrive at the finish line at PRO ARMM Grandstand, Camp BGen SK Pendatun, Parang, Maguindanao at about 7:00 AM of same date. Water points will be placed in every 3 km distance.

A program proper will then follow. This will be capped by tree planting and distribution of the torch – shaped Norfolk tree to the five (5) Provincial Directors from Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-tawi, Lanao and Maguindanao Police Provincial Offices and Battalion Commanders of the Regional Public Safety Management Battalion of ARMM. These trees shall then be planted at their respective headquarters. The tree planting will be headed by PDIR VERZOSA (C,PNP), PCSUPT LATAG (RD, PRO ARMM) and PMO Officers at the vicinity of the PRO ARMM Commissioned Officers Center (COC).

A Multi-sector Stakeholders Forum will then follow the tree planting activities.

596 more villages in ARMM to benefit from new WB fund

March 5, 2010


COTABATO CITY – At least 596 war-affected barangays in the Autonomous Region in Muslim are eyed as beneficiaries in a $30-million fund sought from the World Bank (WB) to bankroll a three-year extension in ARMM Social Fund Project (ASFP) efforts.


ASFP officials made this announcement Thursday as they corrected an earlier report, which erroneously stated that the WB has already approved the fund.


“It was actually the NEDA (National Economic Development Authority) Board chaired by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo that recently approved the fund request from the WB. The bank has yet to decide on the request, although we anticipate its positive action,” ASFP information specialist Irene Fernandez Gonzales said.

In a press briefing here last month, ASFP Project Manager Nasser Sinarimbo urged for public cooperation in their project implementation, stressing that the national government and WB have earmarked the loan for ARMM alone this time.


“The fund is a loan and all Filipinos are supposed to pay it back. We have to see to it that every penny of it is spent religiously in response to the trust the national government endows us,” Sinarimbo told newsmen.


The WB additional financing, which is about P1.41-billion, will “help boost the parallel efforts of the regional and national government to develop the ARMM communities affected by conflict,” Gonzales said.


It will run for three years with two components: The community development assistance (CDA) and the institutional strengthening and governance (ISG), she said.


The ASFP is “adopting the community demand-driven (CDD) approach in its implementation of WB-funded projects in ARMM areas such as the 596 more barangays identified as beneficiaries," Gonzales added.


Foreign institutions including the WB have been assisting the ASFP, and as of December 2009, the CDA component has completed 1,661 community-based infrastructure subprojects out of 1,723 target units.


The CDA component has turned over 1,370 subprojects to proponent local government units (barangay and municipal levels) and line agencies ARMM, it was learned.


The ASFP, under its strategic regional infrastructure (SRI) component, has completed 13 subprojects, which included information and communication technology community research centers for district hospitals and ports in the five ARMM component provinces, Gonzales said.


The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) also assists the ASFP, through which it has completed three of seven SRI projects that are slated for turnover to recipient hospitals in ARMM, she said.


ASFP projects are also assisted by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), which has already served more than 3,000 children under various components of the Basic Education Assistance in Mindanao (BEAM), Gonzales said. (Ali G. Macabalang)

DepEd-ARMM opens ‘hotlines’ for public feedback

05 March 2010


COTABATO CITY–The Department of Education (DepEd) in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is opening next week cellular ‘hotlines’ to give the public an avenue to air complaints or suggestions that could help resolve nagging problems concerning teachers’ welfare in the region.


Dr. Hamid Barra, DepEd-ARMM secretary, said he conceived the opening of the hotlines as part of his avowed reforms to revolutionize the operations of his department, improve its image, and improve the plight and services of at least 22,000 teachers across the region.


“Reforms should be now because we mean business this time,” Barra said, stressing that he accepted his recent appointment in the agency on condition that he could introduce drastic improvements in the agency, something Acting ARMM Governor Ansaruddin Alonto-Adiong has welcomed well.


The hotlines will allow teachers and stakeholders from the region to ventilate and convey their issues, concerns and suggestions thru text messages or calls on how the education department can be more responsive.


The hotlines are 09206388636 (Smart) and 09273106530 (Globe), Barra said.


The education official, meanwhile, announced added that the February pay checks of teachers in Maguindanao, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi were distributed on time last February 26 through the “usual process” at the division levels including their P3,000 GMA bonus.


Barra recalled that upon assuming office on order of Adiong, he personally distributed the January pay checks to more than 10,000 teachers from the five (5) divisions of Lanao del Sur province on February 6, 2010 at the Provincial Capitol Gym in Marawi City . Barra assumed office on February 1.


He said he was personally ordered by the regional governor to “make sure that salaries and benefits of our teachers are given on time because they are our priorities. How can they provide good education to our children if they are not attended to?”


“We will gradually deal with issues and concerns involving our teachers in the region,” he said, citing his inherited burden on still unpaid P300-million GSIS remittances.


Barra emphasized that one of his administration’s thrusts is “how to respond to the needs of our public schools and make their teachers more competent.”


He said he will order all public schools in the region to hold simple graduation rites this closing season.

“For their graduation attire, students can use their school uniforms,” he said. (Jo Henry/bpi-armm)

Women’s month fete in ARMM. Regional Attorney-General Baratucal Caudang (inset photo), speaking in behalf of acting ARMM Governor Ansaruddin Alonto-Adiong, stresses the imperative role of women in societies at ceremonies in front of the Executive building inside the ARMM complex in Cotabato City following a parade of employees and officials of all line agencies and offices in the regional government (some of them shown in queues on March 8 in celebration of the Women’s Mont. He averred that without the women, there can be no youth Dr. Jose Rizal talked about as the “hope of the Fatherland.” (Omar Mangorsi/bpi-armm)

ARMM celebrates women’s month

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ARMM’s health secretary earns the Gawad Haydee Yorac for outstanding public service

Cotabato City- Dr. Kadil Sinolinding, Jr., regional secretary of the Depart of Health – Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (DoH-ARMM), has been awarded this year’s Gawad Haydee Yorac for Outstanding Public Service for his exemplary and venerable work on health service by the Manila Electric Railroad And Light Company (Meralco) and the University of the Philippines.

Dr. Sinolinding is the first Filipino Muslim to receive the esteemed award founded in honor of the late Haydee Yorac, who is considered to be among the country’s respectable and dedicated public servants.

Now on its 4th year, the Gawad Haydee Yorac is conferred annually by Meralco in cooperation with the University of the Philippines to outstanding individual in public service whose personal qualities and personal lives are worth emulating.

Lawyer Naguib Sinarimbo, ARMM executive secretary, lauded Dr. Sinolinding for his works and for garnering the award.

He said the dedicated doctor is a pride to the people of the ARMM and boosts the reputation of the incumbent regional leadership.

The award body cites Dr. Sinolinding’s devotion of his more than 20 years of professional career to helping over a hundred thousand individuals in different parts of Mindanao especially those in remote and depressed communities. He helped organized medical outreach missions to several areas in Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Saranggani, Maguindanao and Sulu that others dared not visit.

He has also been known for his Vision 20/20 Cataract Charities Team which made eye surgery and other ophtalmological services available even to those who don’t have the means since 1991.

The award was given to Dr. Sinolinding on March 4, 2010 at Pasig City. He had been nominated by Dr. Angelo Ladub, an anesthesiologist at the Cotabato Regional and Medical Center in Cotabato City. (bpiarmm)

DOTC lapses in ARMM

DOTC lapses in ARMM. Lawyer Guiling Mamondiong, undersecretary of the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) and chairman of the regional management committee (RMC) for Regions IX, XII and ARMM (3rd from right), answers queries from Teng L. Datu (inset) of Goldstar Daily Cotabato Bureau chief during the DOTC-RMC-ARMM Ulat sa Bayan Press Conference in Cotabato City on March 2. Mamondiong was told of issues on some functions and resources DOTC has not devolved to ARMM, just like other line agencies in the autonomous region. With Mamondiong are ARMM Deputy Executive Secretary Abdullah Cusain (right), DOTC-ARMM Executive Director IV Pama Dimapanat (2nd from right), DOTC-ARMM Asst. Secretary Nazir Kuddah( 4th from right) and other DOTC Officials. (omar mangorsi/bpi-armm)

March 3, 2010

COTABATO CITY – Itinalaga ni Acting ARMM governor Ansaruddin Alonto-Adiong si Juliet L. Tammang bilang bagong kalihim ng Department of Tourism sa Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Nanumpa ngayon araw ng Meirkules, March 3 sa harap ni Executive Secretary Naguib Sinarimbo at sinaksihan ni Atty. Avecina Alonto, Chief of Staff, Office of the Regional Governor (ORG) – ARMM.

Ayon kay Sinarimbo magsasagawa muna si Tammang ng assessment sa kanyang tanggapan at kakausapin muna ang mga kawani upang madetermina kung ano ang mga dapat gawin na mga programa ng nasabing ahensya upang mai-angat ang turismo sa rehiyon.

Si Secretary Tammang ay mula sa lalawigan ng Sulu at naging miembro ng Regional Assembly ng Autonomous Region mula 2002-2005 sa ilaim ng pamumuno ni dating ARMM Governor Farouk Hussein.

Kamakailan, itinalaga din ni regional governor Adiong sina Mike Amolan bilang Assistant secretary ng Department of Interior and Local Government, Romeo K. Sema bilang Chairman ng Regional Reconciliation, Unification Council, Dr. Abdulsalam Disomimba bilang Undersecretary ng Madaris at Jasmin Domado bilang chairperson ng Regional Commission Bangsamoro Women-ARMM.

Samantala, sisiguraduhin ng Department of Education o DepEd sa ARMM na matutugunan nila ang mga reklamo ng mga guro, mula sa mga magulang o kahit sino na magpapabot ng mensahe sa pamamagitan ng texting.

Ilulunsad ng DepEd-ARMM sa buong rehiyon ang kanilang hotline kung saan etetext ang mga gustong iparating na mensahe sa pamunuan ng DepEd ARMM. Ang mga numero ay 0920-6388-636 at 0927-3106-530.

Ayon kay Atty. Hamid Barra, Regional Secretary ng DepEd-ARMM kumbinsado syang malaki ang maitutulong ng nasabing hotlines sa pagpapatupad ng pagbabago sa ahensya ng Edukasyon sa rehiyon.

Ani Barra sisiguraduhin nilang matutugunan at mabigyan aksyon ang mga reklamo at magsasagwa sila ng imbestigasyon sa mga issues at concerns na etetext sa mga numerong nabanggit.

Dagdag pa ni Barra na sinisiguro nilang confidential ang identity ng mga nagtetext sa kanilang hotlines. (BPI-ARMM) &nb sp;

ARMM’s right over ‘strategic minerals’ asserted Amendment of ‘castrating’ autonomy law pressed

March 3, 2010


COTABATO CITY – Breaking silence for years about deprivations within the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, the ARMM’s Regional Legislative Assembly (RLA) is now pushing for amendment of existing edicts it berated as ‘castrating’ its constituents’ rights over the use of local ‘strategic minerals.”

The 24-member RLA presided over by Speaker Reggie Sahali-Generale has tasked its committee on amendments and revisions of laws to look into the protest of Lanao del Sur Assemblyman Ziaur-Rahman Alonto-Adiong against stringent laws governing the exploitation of natural resources in ARMM.

In his privilege speech here Monday, Assemblyman Adiong asked the RLA to initiate an amendment to existing laws including R.A. 9054 (ARMM Organic Act of 2002), which he said bereft the regional governance of its rights to and shares from the exploitation by “outsiders” of ‘strategic minerals” in the region.

Adiong cited as example the helpless state of the regional governance in the decades-old exploitation of Lake Lanao for hydroelectricity production and the ongoing exploration of oil deposits in an 8,200-kilometer area off the shore of Mapun Island town in Tawi-Tawi.

The exploration is done by the ExxonMobil Exploration and Production B.V. through its service contract 56 (SC 56) permitted by the national government while ARMM authorities could just watch helplessly, Adiong said.

“The SC 56 consortium began drilling activities in the area in October last year at a cost of about $1-million per day and $100-million for its first exploration well. This well, called Dabakan-1, is located about 65 kilometers from Mapun Island in Tawi-Tawi,” he pointed out.

He said the “Department of Energy claims that the SC 56 may hold up to 750 million barrels of oil, which is equivalent to seven years’ worth of local crude supply for the Philippines .”

“We, the people of ARMM, stand to lose everything and gain nothing out of the exploration," Adiong said, due to the stringent provision of R.A. 9054 that retains to the national government the sole authority to govern the exploitation of “strategic minerals” in the region.

R.A. 9054 devolves to the ARMM government the “control and supervision over the exploration, utilization, development and protection of the mines and minerals and other natural resources within the autonomous region…except for the strategic such as uranium, petroleum, and other fossil fuels, mineral oils, all sources of potential energy, as well as national reservations already delimited by authority of the central government or national government and those that may be defined by an Act of Congress.”

Adiong clarified that the “castrating provision” of R.A. 9054 could still be remedied by way of amendment to be initiated by the RLA and sustained by Congress as provided for in the same Organic Act.

He asked the RLA to propose the amendment that would endow the regional government “a measure of control and supervision over strategic minerals like uranium, petroleum, and other natural reserves and aquatic parks, forest and watershed reservations already delimited by the central government.”

In his privilege speech, Adiong said that such amendment could also address similar helplessness that ARMM faces in the central government-controlled exploitation of Lake Lanao by the National Power Corporation (NPC) as a supplier of the 85 percent or so of Mindanao ’s hydroelectricity demand.

Adiong lamented that since time immemorial, the NPC and the Department of Energy “have not disclosed where really goes the electrification fund of one (1) cent per kilowatt hour of electricity sales of NPC, as mandated by virtue of Energy Resolution 1-94.”

Earlier, Lanao del Sur Governor Mamintal Alonto-Adiong Jr., elder brother of the assemblyman, lamented that because of the central government controls the management of Lake Lanao and its watersheds, his administration and the ARMM government could not tinker with the sad state of the lake.

Gov. Adiong said the four major river tributaries of Lake Lanao have been heavily silted for years, impeding the inflow of water down to the lake. The provincial government has long proposed the dredging of the rivers but the central government failed to act on it.

“We are hoping the national government will finally listen to our pleas this time as Mindanao is in engulfed by rampant power outages due to the dwindling water level in Lake Lanao ,” he told journalists earlier. (Ali G. Macabalang)

Inter-agency body formed for 4Ps in ARMM

March 3, 2010

COTABATO CITY - The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) has formed its regional advisory committee (RAC) for the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps to intensify efforts against poverty and improve the health, nutrition, education and economic condition of its populace.

The RAC is an inter-agency cooperation that aims to effectively implement the 4Ps and translate national policies into region-specific operational guidelines, according to acting Secretary Pombae Kader of the ARMM’s Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

The DSWD leads the RAC with the Department of Health (DOH), Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Regional Development Planning Office (RPDO) and the ARMM’s Bureau of Public Information (BPI) as members.

The 4Ps, one of the major anti poverty programs of the government through the DSWD, is a five-year program of the President launched in 2008 amid the global economic meltdown.

It is a conditional cash transfer program originated in Latin America and Africa and was divided into three (3) sets.

Kader said the 4Ps program provides small cash grants to identified extremely poor families with the condition that the money will be spent for health and education of their children particularly from zero-fourteen (0-14) years of age.

Under the 4Ps, each family will receive monthly cash grants amounting to P1,400 for five years for health services and education of three (3) children. Each child will have P300 education or a total of P900 for the three children while the P500 will be used for the family’s basic health service.

In his recent visit here, DSWD Undersecretary Luwalhati Pablo, 4Ps National Program Director, said that since the 4Ps is “not a standalone program,” other agencies should assist her department in promoting and building the program.

As of August 2009, the program increased its target number of beneficiaries from 700,000 to 1 million households in 2008, entailing the government to increase its budget from P5-billion to P10 billion.

In the ARMM, as of August 2009, the program then covered 15 municipalities, serving approximately 30,000 households that received roughly P58 million, Kader said in her report to Pablo.

Pablo said that the program is still extending its help to 57 more municipalities and approximately 70,000 households for another five years which will be funded by international donors including American Development Fund, World Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). (bpi-armm)

Japan-given computers for ARMM

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Project Formulation Advisor for Mindanao Takashi Komori (seated left foreground) and ARMM Executive Secretary Naguid Sinarimbo (beside him) ceremonially use one of 20 computer units JICA donated to the regional autonomous government while JICA Chief Adviser Michimasa Numata, AMS-ORG, ARMM Human Capacity Development Project Manager Lydia M. Udaundo-Mastura, JICA Business Support Expert Ryujiro Sasao and Chief of Macro Intersectoral Coordinating Assistance Division, Regional Planning Deputy Chief Baintan Adil-Ampatuan look on at simple rites in Cotabato City Tuesday. Inset photo shows the JICA and ARMM officials signing a memorandum of understanding on the use of the computer units in data banking system (Omar Mangorsi/bpi-armm)

JICA enhances ARMM bureaucracy, official says

COTABATO CITY – Officials of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao have acknowledged sharp improvement in the ARMM bureaucracy amid the continued capacity-building support of the Japan International Cooperation (JICA), citing the Japanese entity’s generosity for underdeveloped nations.

“There is no way we can reciprocate generous package supports from the JICA than to produce a bureaucracy of competent professional workforce”, said ARMM Executive Secretary Atty. Naguib Sinarimbo during the 2nd annual progress meeting here of the Human Capacity Development Project (HCDP).

Speaking before participants of the annual meeting graced by JICA officials at a restaurant here Tuesday, Sinarimbo lauded the Japanese sponsors for their untiring supports to various initiatives aimed at improving ARMM governance.

Since 2007, JICA, a development partner of ARMM, has been bankrolling a series of manpower trainings and infrastructure development in the region, which covers Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

While lauding JICA for its significant intervention in human resources growth, Sinarimbo called on ARMM bureaucrats craft strategies the would set clear-cut policies that will ensure wise utilization of grants and similar packages the likes of JICA.

“We, officials and employees in the Autonomous government are the real faces in the ARMM; whatever we do or fail to do is real reflection on how governance is conducted in ARMM”, Sinarimbo said.

For this year’s progress meeting, technical working groups on administrative development, infrastructure development and economic development took turns in rendering positive results in their respective areas.

Impressed of the progress reports, Project Formulation Advisor for Mindanao (JICA Philippines) Mr. Takashi Komori assured his Filipino counterparts of his favorable recommendations for other program packages.

Komori said that the ill-fated incident in Maguindanao late last year has not affected the momentum and cooperation JICA has been offering ARMM.

The one-day affair winded up with JICA turning over twenty (20) more units of computers for the Human Resource Information System at the HRIS Center located at the ARMM compound here.

Morito, Sinarimbo and ARMM’s administrative management services Director Lydia Udaundo-Mastura signed a memorandum of understanding on the use of the computer units for enhance data banking system. (rkp/bpi-armm)

February 23, 2010

COTABATO CITY – The Department of Health (DOH) in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) declared today that measles cases in Lanao del Sur, particularly in the coastal town of Balabagan have been fully contained after experiencing earlier a reported outbreak.

DOH-ARMM Secretary Dr. Kadil Sinolinding Jr. bared the good news through a report he submitted to acting Regional governor Ansaruddin Alonto-Adiong, who earlier directed him to validate earlier published report on the inclusion of measles outbreak in Balabagan, Lanao del Sur.

“Please everything possible to address the reported outbreak,” Adiong was quoted as telling Dr. Sinolinding Jr. in an earlier call over the phone.

According to Sinolinding, he immediately sent health workers to investigate the report and conduct immunization against measles especially on children to avoid epidemic.

Sinolinding said seven adults and a one-year old child have been recorded in Balabagan town, Lanao del Sur. “But no fatalities were posted as we closely monitored and validated reports on the disease,” the health secretary added.

The case was recorded on January 27, 2010, according to published reports.

Earlier, according to Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral, the DOH has posted recorded a total of 609 measles cases.

She disclosed that this year, the number of measles cases recorded from January 1 to February 13 is 70 percent higher than the same period of last year.

Measles is an airborne disease and is contagious, Sinolinding said, prodding the public especially the parents to have their infant children immunized free in designated health clinics and health providers in the region.

Cabral in an interview said that “measles is a highly contagious viral disease and can also be aggravated due to overcrowding and congestion”.

But Sinolinding said there are no reports of measles outbreak in evacuation camps in Maguindanao where there are still Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) staying since August 2008 due to armed conflicts.

He said the Integrated Provincial Health Office in Maguindnao headed by Dr. Tahir Sulaik is doing well in delivering health services in the province.

“Our support package to our people in Maguindanao especially for the IDPs include comprehensive health coverage and management,” he stressed.

In 2004, the Health department launched the Ligtas Tigdas Campaign wherein no measles cases were reported from June 2004 to December 2006.

The campaign aimed to vaccinate 18 million children between 9 months and 8 years old using a door-to-door strategy nationwide which decreased measles cases in the country by 96 percent and death from measles by 99 percent.

Prior to Ligtas Tigdas campaign, an estimated 6,000 Filipino children majority coming from the poor households who has least access to public health died from measles.

“DOH-ARMM will continue to deliver the basic health services due our people in the region as concrete manifestation of the seriousness of regional governor Adiong to address the health requirement of his people,” Sinolinding said.

DOH-ARMM said symptoms of measles include fever, general weakness and occasionally red eyes. But these symptoms usually come before skin rash confirming the onset of the disease. It is transmitted through droplets from the nose, mouth or throat of infected person. (johenry/agm/BPI-ARMM)

Tawi-Tawi celebrates rich harvest of food crops

February 23, 2010


BONGAO, Tawi-Tawi – Farmers and residents in his province celebrated on Monday what they described as bountiful harvest of food crops in their maiden “Cassava and Banana Harvest Festival” here in this provincial capital town.

Despite its being on the list of the poorest provinces in the country, Tawi-Tawi Gov. Sadikul Sahali averred that food production flourishes in the province and the people here never run out of something to eat as amplified in the festival’s theme, “Nobody…Nobody Goes Hungry in Tawi-Tawi.”

Unknown to many, Tawi-Tawi has gained fame for its massive seaweeds production and rich marine resource, and has been attaining surplus production of cassava – a staple food here and in the neighboring provinces of Sulu and Basilan.

There are more than 19,000 hectares of arable lands planted with cassava in the province , producing close to 170,000 metric tons of harvest in a year.

Sangkula Tindick, the provincial agricultural officer, puts the province’s cassava surplus at around 40%. Some of which reach markets in Sabah, which is just few hours travel from Tawi-Tawi, and even in the municipality of Siasi in Sulu.

He said the province has been consistently producing excessive supply of cassava in the last seven to 10 years when they began advocating for the farming of the said crop and fruit trees such as mango throughout the province. Their office provided trainings and seedlings to the farmers.

Almost all of the major islands in the province have their cultivated lands planted with cassava, banana or mango, according to Tindick, adding that these lands used to be idle.

Even the famous Turtle Island was not taken out of the picture. The provincial agriculture office has launched a project few years back in the island, which Tindick dubbed as the “greening” of Turtle Island, encouraging locals to plant cassava and mango trees.

Their campaign has paid off really well, said Tindick. Now, the province’s people and economy will not just be relying on marine resource but on the similarly rich soil as well, he said. (bpiarmm)

‘Punitive’ GAA provision imperils ARMM operations Urgent Presidential veto sought

February 23, 2010


New officials of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao are calling for an urgent veto of what they lamented yesterday as "grossly punitive” provision in this year’s General Appropriations Act (GAA) governing fund releases to the ARMM governance.

Unless saved by a Presidential veto this week, the ARMM operations are in peril of "paralysis," officials led by acting ARMM Governor Ansaruddin Alonto-Adiong disclosed in vehemence.

“I humbly implore (for) an audience anytime this week (to bring out personally) our grave concern before said flaw becomes irreversible," Adiong stressed in his letter to the President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo dated Feb. 22, five days before the mandate of GAA provisions take effect on Feb. 27.

Adiong was referring to special provision No. 2 on the ARMM budget in page 881 of GAA 2010, which states that “no subsequent release shall be made unless previous funds released to the ARMM were audited by a special audit team based in Manila and designated for the purpose.”

The same provision slates that “any disbursement that not been liquidated, audited and/or disallowed by the special audit team shall be deducted from subsequent releases (for the ARMM from this year’s GAA).”

The 24-member Regional Legislative Assembly (ARMM) and five provincial governments in ARMM have prepared separate manifestations protesting the GAA provision, which they described as an affront to the wisdom of installing the Adiong regime purportedly to reform the regional governance.

The Arroyo administration has detained and indicted ARMM Governor Zaldy Uy Ampatuan in connection with the Nov. 23, 2009 massacre of 57 people including 31 journalists in Maguindanao. It also ordered a special audit of the fund disbursements of the suspended leadership on suspicion of alleged graft.

“At a time when (ARMM) needs to rebuild its image from accusations of graft, inefficiency and violence, the (budget) restriction will severely affect our efforts to implement strategic regional infrastructures and basic social services that, aside from improving the lot of our people, would (prove) that ARMM remains as a relevant, functional and beneficial politico-administrative unit,” a draft of an RLA resolution said.

The draft resolution said the RLA members are "collectively opposed to such provision and earnestly appealing” to President Arroyo “to veto” it.

This year’s GAA earmarks P9.2-billion budget for ARMM. The amount covers some 70 percent share for personnel services, 25 percent maintenance and operating expense funds and P850-million capital outlay.

“The ARMM’s 2010 budget constitutes less than 1% of the national budget, but the new regional leadership has vowed to utilize it to the optimum benefit of its constituents under the principles on transparent, consultative and moral governance,” regional Executive Secretary Naguib Sinarimbo said.

The provincial governments of Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi are equally alarmed of the stringent budget provision because they stand to share P150-million each for vital infra projects while the regional government would share only P100-million for similar projects, records said.

Unless timely vetoed, the budgetary “flaw” would do a “collective punishment” against all the workforces and constituents of the regional governance, said Sinarimbo, a lawyer.

He said the budget provision is “unwarranted” because there is no certainty in the length of period the audit on the Ampatuan administration’s expenditures would be completed.

“While all well-meaning people of ARMM support the comprehensive audit on past fund releases and the prosecution of officials culpable of misdemeanors, we should not be held hostage to its proceedings and outcome,” he said.

ARMM news analyst Raymundo Pelaez, a law graduate, berated as “illogical” the interpolation of the stiff provision into the GAA because while it “appeared serious to sanction people suspected of wrong doings, it squeezes the necks of new leaders the national government installed to institute reforms.”

“In ARMM, more often than not, investigations or comprehensive fund audits are synonymous to infinity. Therefore, holding the new ARMM regime solely dependent on the result of the audit of fund disbursements they have nothing to do with, is a virtual act of sabotage,“ Pelaez added. (AGM/bpi-armm)

MOA signing on social fund projects in ARMM

ARMM Social Fund Project (ASFP) led by project manager Engr. Nasser Sinarimbo (3rd from right) inks a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with local officials of Lanao del Sur – Saguiran mayor Rasmia Macabago (1st from right); Lumba Bayabao mayor Minda Dagalangit (2nd from right); Ditsaan-Ramain mayor Actar Marmar (3rd from left), Masiu mayor Nasser Pangandaman, Jr. (2nd from left) and Dr. Lampa Pandi of Poona Bayabao (1st from left) on the implementation of the ASFP projects in their respective localities at a meeting in Cagayan de Oro City on February 19, 2010. Witnessing the signing are (from R-L) Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Consultancy team head Engr. Domingo Guarinio; Mr. Norodin Lumambas and Ms. Irene Gonzales of the ASFP; Hja Mariam Abdulkasan of DSWD-ARMM; Lanao del Sur provincial social welfare officer Ms. Liamen Laut; JICA expert Mr. Tito Oria and Ms. Ayrin Sales of the ASFP. Inset photo shows Sinarimbo addresses participants of the LGU orientation meeting held by the ASFP shortly before the MOA signing rites where he announced that the International Bank for Reconstruction and Rehabilitation (IBRD) or World Bank approved the $30 million additional funding for more barangays of the ARMM that have not yet received ASFP projects. (bpi-armm)

MoA signing on social fund projects in ARMM

ARMM Social Fund Project (ASFP) led by project manager Engr. Nasser Sinarimbo (3rd from right) inks a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with local officials of Lanao del Sur - Mayor Mauyag Papandaya, Jr. of Tubaran (1st from right); Mayor Jamal Asum of Lumbayanague (2nd from right); Mayor Cabib Tanog of Pualas (2nd from left) and Mayor Baguio Macapodi of Ganassi (1st from left) on the implementation of the ASFP projects in their respective localities at a meeting in Cagayan de Oro on February 17, 2010. Witnessing the signing are (from L-R) Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) expert Mr. Tito Oria; DSWD-ARMM Community Development Assisstance (CDA) manager Hja Mariam Abdulkasan; Mr. Norordin Lumambas, Mr. Opao Tiboron of the ASFP and Mr. Wally Garoy of the Consultancy Team office of the JICA. Inset photos shows Sinarimbo addresses participants of an orientation meeting held by the ASFP shortly before the MOA signing rites where he announced that the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) or World Bank approved the $30 million additional funding for more barangays of the ARMM that have not yet received ASFP projects. (bpi-armm)

Lanao’s recipients of foreign-funded projects oriented

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Pursuing full-swing peace and development initiatives in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), the ARMM Social Fund Project (ASFP) has oriented and linked up with local government units (LGU) officials in Lanao del Sur to make them program implementing partners.

ASFP officials led by Project Manager Nasser Sinarimbo brainstormed with municipal and barangay officials from Lanao del Sur at a five-day orientation meeting that ended here Sunday.

During the conference, ASFP officials and some participating local officials from Lanao del Sur entered into agreements providing for the implementation of community-based infrastructure projects funded by foreign donor-institutions through the ASFP.

The ASFP was created by the national government in 2006 to implement in ARMM areas development projects funded through soft loans from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) or World Bank and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

The World Bank has recently approved a US$30 million additional financing support through ASFP to cover more barangays from the six component provinces of Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and Basilan and two cities of Marawi and Lamitan that have not yet benefited from the agency’s projects and services.

The ASFP operations’ lifespan was supposed to end in June last year, but officials and residents in ARMM have persuaded the national government and participating foreign institutions to extend the operations that led to the approval of the fresh loan.

“The extended program operations entails substantial fund that every Filipinos will have to pay for it but is earmarked only for ARMM. It is a special privilege we must enjoy with utmost care to show we are worthy of trust,” Engr. Sinarimbo told a press briefing earlier held in Cotabato City.

In pursuit of the policy of acting ARMM Governor Ansaruddin Alonto-Adiong on moral, transparent and consultative governance, the five-day orientation was held here to be able to ensure successful implementation of ASFP projects by recipient LGUs, he said.

The orientation had clarified the roles and functions of the Municipal Multi Stakeholders Committee (MMSC), Municipal Team (MT) and Local Chief Executives (LCEs), the responsibilities of the LGUs on procurement and management and project financial management and status in the said project implementation, added Sinarimbo.

He said that as of December last year, 862 of of the 2,486 barangays in ARMM have been covered by the Social Fund projects since year 2003.

In a message read for him by ARMM cabinet secretary Pangilaman Mamowalas, Gov. Adiong his transitional regime will support and pursue development undertakings that would help mitigate hunger and reduce poverty incidence, boost economic condition and improve education and health services in the entire region.

ARMM Social Fund Project has three major components, namely: Strategic Regional Infrastructure (SRI); capacity-building of recipients on livelihood and food sufficiency programs; and the Institutional Strengthening and Governance (ISG) that supports the mechanisms to project management and enhanced governance. (Naila Salik/bpi-armm)

Water system project for waterless town

President Arroyo, assisted by (from her left) Taraka, Lanao del Sur Mayor Amenodin Sumagayan, Muslim Mindanao acting Regional Governor Ansaruddin Alonto-Adiong and Provincial Governor Mamintal "Bombit" Alonto-Adiong Jr. lays down the capsule for the P29-million water works system in ground-breaking rites at barangay Petakus in Taraka town on Wednesday. Looking from left are Lanao Sur Rep. Fayzah RPM Dumarpa and ALIF party list Rep. Acmad Tomawis. The President, who was received by thousands of young and old villagers in Taraka, where her late gather former President Diosdado Macapagal set foot in 1965, also broke the ground for similar water works project in nearby Masiu town. An estimated 70,000 villagers, who have been getting drinking water from a muddy river, will benefit from the projects, Mayor Sumagayan, president of the Lanao del Sur mayors’ league, said. (Omar Mangorsi/bpi-armm)

Arroyo opens vital projects in south, bares growth in Muslim Mindanao

February 18, 2010


TARAKA, Lanao del Sur – Received warmly by thousands of young and old villagers here where her late father former President Diosdado Macapagal set foot in 1965, President Arroyo led Wednesday the ground breaking of a P29-million water works system to end the local residents’ dependence to muddy river for drinking water.

The President also formally opened here the P3.5-million public market building she bankrolled through her social fund three years ago to spur what she underscored as agri-business ventures needed to bring the rural town to greater heights.

Ms. Arroyo also broke the ground for a similar P29-million water work system in the nearby Masiu, the hometown of Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman, who informed here of the "monumental projects” former President Macapagal put up in the two rural towns in 1965.

In her brief speech, the lady chief executive lauded the administrations of Lanao del Sur Governor Mamintal "Bombit" Alonto-Adiong Jr. and his younger brother, Muslim Mindanao acting Regional Governor Ansaruddin A. Adoing, saying that poverty in the Maranao province has been alleviated tremendously.

“I am happy to announce that Lanao del Sur has graduated from being one of the 10 poorest provinces in the country,” Ms. Arroyo said, stirring a resounding applause from thousands of young and old well-wishers and residents.

She said the incumbent local officials should continue to infuse agri-business projects in the province that would not only assure their residents three-square meals daily but also allow them to export agricultural crops to neighboring areas.

Gov. Adiong alongside his brother, the ARMM acting governor and Taraka Mayor Sumagayan, who chairs the provincial mayors’ league, said the President visit would boost the morale of her allies in pushing for the victory of administration candidates in the coming elections.

Mayor Sumagayan said with optimism the President would remain a national leader to keep serving Muslim areas because she will overwhelmingly get elected to a seat Pampanga’s Congressional district and to the House speakership eventually.

"Surely, she will make it in the Pampanga and in the House of Representatives, and her administration candidates will dominate Taraka town, the province of Lanao del Sur and the Muslim Mindanao region in the coming political exercises,” Sumagayan said.

Prior to her visit in Masiu town and here Wednesday, the President also inaugurated some infrastructure projects in Kabuntalan, Maguindanao, another component of the administration’s political bailiwick Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

She also visited the equally pro-administration officials of Sultan Kudarat province led by Rep. Pax Mangudadatu and his son, Governor Suharto “Teng” Mangudadatu.

The President did not speak about politics in her latest Mindanao field sorties, but her local allies said the visits were a “big plus factor” for administration’s national bets led by their standard bearer former Defense Chief Gilbert Teodoro.

Interior and Local Governments Secretary Ronaldo Puno, a staunch campaigner for Teodoro, accompanied the President in Maguindanao where residents still reel from the nightmarish effect of the Nov. 23 massacre of 57 people including 31 journalists. (Ali G. Macabalang)

Pact on deployment of 36,000 OFWs from ARMM to KL

Pact on deployment of 36,000 OFWs from ARMM to KL. Labor regional secretary Myra M. Alih of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (left) and Dato Sri Majaraja Di Raja Zulkepley Dahalan of the Malaysia-based G20 (seated next) sign an memorandum of understanding (MoU) prescribing the latter to recruit 36,000 household skilled workers from ARMM in six-year period starting this year at formal ceremonies in Kuala Lumpur last Feb. 3. Also shownin the photo are G20 vice chair Khor Kai Keng and Executive Seretary Fiona Low Yuet Leng. (Ali G. Macabalang/bpi-armm)

Deployment of 36,000 OFWs in Malaysia set in KL-ARMM pact

Here’s good news for domestic skilled works-seeking Filipinos, especially from the lagging and troubled communities of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

The ARMM government and the G20, a group of prominent recruitment agencies in Malaysia, have sealed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) prescribing the latter to employ 36,000 household skilled workers (HSWs) from the component areas of the autonomous region within six-year period, acting Regional Governor Ansaruddin Alonto-Adiong announced yesterday.

Adiong said a team from the ARMM’s Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) led by regional secretary Myra Mangkabung-.Alih inked the MoU with the G20 headed by chairman Dato Sri Maharaja Di Raja Zulkepley Dahalan in Kula Lumpur last Feb. 3.

Under the Mou, the G20 will recruit 500 HSWs from ARMM every month with free placement fees, flight fares, and board and lodging in Malaysia, an arrangement crafted especially for the economically-gripped communities in the five provinces and two cities of ARMM, Alih said.

ARMM Executive Secretary Naguib Sinarimbo said Secretary Alih would brief Adiong on the details of the MoU before she meets DOLE Secretary Marianito D. Roque this week in Manila as a prelude to the fixing of a “win-win” wage rate in the MoU.

The prevailing government monthly wage rate for overseas household workers is US$400, but the G20 would want a minimal adjustment for it to accommodate OFWs in magnitude, Alih said.

Alih said a follow-up meeting with the G20 officials within this or next month will fix the agreed monthly rate for the recruits from ARMM.

The fixed rate will be observed religiously by employers identified by the G20, contrary to other prevailing arrangements where OFWs have not actually been receiving fully what they signed for in contracts, Alih explained.

In her Feb. 3 meeting with G20 officials, Alih said, participating Malaysian recruitment agencies have also assured to help in the employment in Kula Lumpur of jobless graduates of technical and skill trainings under the ARMM’s Technical Education and Skill Development Authority.

Over 4,000 residents in ARMM have already graduated from TESDA-ARMM trainings in recent months, Sinarimbo said. (Ali G. Macabalang/bpi-armm)

ARMM pushes for better ports

Cotabato City - The regional ports management of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) vies to improve ports services and revenue generation in the region as it pursues full devolution and further compliance to international maritime standards this year.

The management and technical staff of the 7 major seaports in the ARMM convened in a two-day conference, Feb. 15-16, to lay down viable plans to take on the considerably dismal condition of ports in the region.

Pagras Biruar, General Manager of the Regional Ports Management Authority (RPMA), said the conference is designed to have a thorough evaluation of present ports management and operation in the region and identify means for improvement.

Most of the problems faced by ARMM’s ports management stem from its not being entirely devolved to the autonomous government.

All 7 seaports have to rely on locally generated revenues to support their operation and respective workforce. The same problem has also led to intricacies that keep these ports from providing decent services and better revenue collection.

Atty. Naguib Sinarimbo, ARMM executive secretary, said the incumbent regional leadership will place emphasis on the improvement of ports, to include airports, as “the ports mirror the region – the regional government and its people.”

He said people from outside ARMM get their first taste of the region via its ports upon their arrival and their impression of the ports somehow affects their perception of the region as a whole.

Sinarimbo said that it is “imperative to push for greater devolution.” The regional ports management authority is already devolved to the region. He said the regional government will work to have the corresponding plantilla positions devolved to the region as well.

Sinarimbo also said that they have talked to some funding agencies to seek support in the training of personnel on port management and would include port improvement among his talking points in his scheduled visit to Malaysia. (bpiarmm)

ARMM pushes for better ports

Cotabato City - The regional ports management of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) vies to improve ports services and revenue generation in the region as it pursues full devolution and further compliance to international maritime standards this year.

The management and technical staff of the 7 major seaports in the ARMM convened in a two-day conference, Feb. 15-16, to lay down viable plans to take on the considerably dismal condition of ports in the region.

Pagras Biruar, General Manager of the Regional Ports Management Authority (RPMA), said the conference is designed to have a thorough evaluation of present ports management and operation in the region and identify means for improvement.

Most of the problems faced by ARMM’s ports management stem from its not being entirely devolved to the autonomous government.

All 7 seaports have to rely on locally generated revenues to support their operation and respective workforce. The same problem has also led to intricacies that keep these ports from providing decent services and better revenue collection.

Atty. Naguib Sinarimbo, ARMM executive secretary, said the incumbent regional leadership will place emphasis on the improvement of ports, to include airports, as “the ports mirror the region – the regional government and its people.”

He said people from outside ARMM get their first taste of the region via its ports upon their arrival and their impression of the ports somehow affects their perception of the region as a whole.

Sinarimbo said that it is “imperative to push for greater devolution.” The regional ports management authority is already devolved to the region. He said the regional government will work to have the corresponding plantilla positions devolved to the region as well.

Sinarimbo also said that they have talked to some funding agencies to seek support in the training of personnel on port management and would include port improvement among his talking points in his scheduled visit to Malaysia. (bpiarmm)

No sugar shortage, price hike in ARMM - DTI official

COTABATO CITY – There is no shortage of sugar supply and sharp price hike of such commodity in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, officials of the ARMM’s trade and industry department assured Monday.

Lawyer Asnaira Batua, ARMM-Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) secretary, in her report to acting Regional Governor Ansaruddin Alonto-Adiong, said the five-province and two-city region has a buffer stock of sugar enough to last for at least three months.

“We have enough supply of sugar in the region. While the demand is high and there’s no price increase,” Batua assured amid reports of sugar shortage and sharp price hikes in other parts of the country.

She said the component areas of ARMM are “not really affected” by sugar price hike, citing the situation in Maguindanao the stuff’s price is low due to low transportation or freight cost. The local cost of white sugar cost is P45 per kilo gram while brown sugar is P34 a kilo, she added.

In Lanao del Sur, Batua said, the province's sufficient sugar supply come from Iligan and Bukidnon and is sold at P46 per kilo for white sugar and P54 per kilo for brown.

The DTI-ARMM official assured that her field personnel have been closely monitoring sugar supply and prices in different establishments in the region in coordination with the Local Price Monitoring Councils of the local government units (LGUs).

Batua said that in the provinces of Sulu and Tawi-Tawi there is enough supply of sugar. “They’re supply come from Sabah”. In Jolo, Sulu white sugar cost P52, brown sugar cost P40 per kilo while in Tawi-Tawi, white cost P40 and brown cost P50 per kilo.

In Basilan, Batua said brown sugar cost P48 while white sugar cost P55/ kilo.

Meanwhile, Batua said there is no report on any violation on overpricing of cement in the region.

The young secretary who is also a lawyer appealed to all consumers in the region to be vigilant and immediately report to DTI office and law enforcers on any irregularity on the product and if its overpriced. (bpi-armm)

Employment of 10,000 youth in ARMM mulled

COTABATO CITY – The new administration of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is pushing for the empowerment of the youth sector in the region via employment or migration scheme it crafted in a two-day workshop here.

“The concern of the youth should be the concern of everyone” said ARMM’s Labor and Employment regional secretary Myra Alih) during the Inception Workshop on Millennium Development Goals concerning Youth, Employment and Migration (MDG-YEM) held at Hotel Castro on February 15-16.

Officials of ARMM and the provincial government of Maguindanao conducted the the 2-day workshop, which was participated in by youth organizations from the province who helped draft an action plan on varied alternatives to provide them decent local and overseas jobs.

Alih stressed that despite the problems faced by Filipino youth especially in Maguindanao such as poverty, armed conflicts, child exploitation in combat and child labor, the ARMM governance led by acting Regional Governor Ansaruddin Alonto-Adiong would “never give up” on empowering the youth.

In different occasions, the 40-year old Adiong, the youngest ARMM chief executive, has emphasized the need to make the youth “productive citizens.”

THE MDG-YEM is a project funded by foreign donors International Organization for Migration (IOM), International Labour Organization (ILO), United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) through the initiative of DOLE-ARMM.

It is also assisted by other government agencies in ARMM including Department of Education (DepEd), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), National Youth Commission (NYC), National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW) and National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

The program started on July 2009 and would run for a three (3) year period. In Maguindanao, the program was already launched last October 26, 2009 at ORG Compound wherein problems and concerns of the youth residing in the area were initially tackled.

A total of 10,000 poor and vulnerable young men and women aging 15-24 years old are targeted to be the beneficiaries of the said project. They must be high school graduate of an out-of school youth, in-school youth, OFW or youth left behind by OFW parents.

Aside from Maguindanao, three (3) other -provinces are recipients of the MDG-YEM. These are Agusan del Sur, Antique and Masbate.

Fatima Cherry Pangilamen, YEM Focal Person and Provincial Head, Maguindanao, DOLE-ARMM, said the initial funding for the MDG-YEM in Maguindanao is approximately 80 million pesos.

The project seeks to enable youth to be productive and competitive. This is through promotion of the entry and retention of youth in local job markets, creation of opportunities for sustainable livelihood, improvement of access to and retention in secondary education and harnessing remittances to contribute to the development of employment alternatives for youth.

“Through the YEM window, the MDG Achievement Fund, seeks to support interventions that promote sustainable productive employment and decent work for young people either at national or local level, including through a better management of the positive and negative effects of migration and by enhancing local capacities to develop, implement and monitor effective policies and programs in this domain” Pangilamen added. (Haj Kabalu/bpi-armm)