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)