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Autonomous Region Muslim Mindanao Archived News

Seal of ARMM

Dietary supplement is a product that contains vitamins, minerals, herbs or other botanicals, amino acids, enzymes, and/or other ingredients intended to supplement the diet. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has special labeling requirements for dietary supplements and treats them as foods, not drugs.

Manufacturers and distributors of dietary supplements and dietary ingredients are prohibited from marketing products that are adulterated or misbranded. That means that these firms are responsible for evaluating the safety and labeling of their products before marketing to ensure that they meet all the requirements of DSHEA and FDA regulations.

Wars of ancient history were about possessions, territory, power, control, family, betrayal, lover's quarrel, politics and sometimes religion.

But we are in the Modern era and supposedly more educated and enlightened .

Think about this. Don't just brush off these questions.

Why is RELIGION still involved in WARS? Isn't religion supposed to be about PEACE?
Ask yourself; What religion always campaign to have its religious laws be accepted as government laws, always involved in wars and consistently causing WARS, yet insists that it's a religion of peace?

WHY??

There are only two kinds of people who teach tolerance:

The Bullies. They want you to tolerate them so they can continue to maliciously deprive you. Do not believe these bullies teaching tolerance, saying that it’s the path to prevent hatred and prejudice.
The victims who are waiting for the right moment to retaliate. They can’t win yet, so they tolerate.

GPH-MNLF-OIC agree on joint communiqué

Source:http://www.manilatimes.net/gph-mnlf-oic-agree-on-joint-communique/242203/
Sunday, January 31, 2016

By JULMUNIR I. JANNARAL

COTABATO CITY, Maguindanao: The Philippine government, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), and the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) have finally agreed in a Joint Communiqué to move on with the peace process from review to implementation.

The communiqué, signed in Jeddah on January 26, marked the conclusion of the Tripartite Review Process (TRP) on the Implementation of the 1996 GPH-MNLF Final Peace Agreement (FPA).

It identified four key areas – the establishment of Bangsamoro Development Assistance Fund; co-management of strategic minerals; participation of MNLF in the Bangsamoro Parliament; and creation of Tripartite Implementation Monitoring Committee.

The Bangsamoro Development Assistance Fund will be used for socio-economic development projects for MNLF communities. Also, the agreement on the co-management of strategic minerals will be referred to the Oversight Committee created by RA 9054 (Organic Act for the Autonomous Region in Muslin Mindanao) for the continuation of its devolution process.

It will also bolster the MNLF participation in the Bangsamoro Transition Commission on the envisioned Bangsamoro Parliament, and the creation of the Tripartite Implementation Monitoring Committee to oversee the consensus arrived at by the TRP.

The communiqué was signed by Undersecretary Jose Yu- suf Iribani Lorena, for the Philippine government; law- yer Randolph Parcasio and Muslimin Sema for the MNLF; with OIC Secretary General Iyad bin Amin Madani for the 57-nation Islamic organization.

The Manila Times tried to reach MNLF Chairman Nur Misuari to comment in the signed Communiqué but only MNLF secretary general Ustadz Murshi Ibrahim gave a statement.

“The agreement signed by the MNLF-OIC-GPH at the conclusion of two-day meeting in Jeddah, is a better step for abiding peace in Morolandia,” Ibrahim said.

Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (Opapp) Secretary Teresita Quintos Deles, who headed Philippine delegation said “this is an important milestone we have reached the convergence of the two Bangsamoro peace processes.”

Meanwhile, a memorandum signed by Misuari announced the holding of the MNLF Leadership Assembly at the Astana (Palace) in Indanan, Sulu to discuss the results of the tripartite peace review conference in Jeddah.

The gathering, which date was not specified, is expected to be attended by armed and unarmed card-bearing MNLF members, at the same venue it was held earlier this month.

Lanao del Sur town receives P3-M cash assistance

Source:http://www.philstar.com/nation/2016/01/29/1547600/lanao-del-sur-town-receives-p3-m-cash-assistance
Saturday, January 30, 2016

By John Unson (philstar.com)

MARAWI CITY, Philippines - Provincial officials welcomed as vote of confidence the grant by the Spanish government of P3 million cash assistance to a fledgling Lanao del Sur town for a public market.

Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal Adiong Jr. on Friday said the release of the grant, for the rehabilitation of the municipal market of Tamparan, by the Spanish government was a tacit indication of confidence on the local government unit of the municipality.

“That is for us, local officials, a tap on our shoulders,” Adiong said.

Adiong said Tamparan Mayor Topaan Disomimba received last week a check worth P3 million from the Spanish government through the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process.

The simple turnover rite was held at the conference hall of Adiong’s office in Marawi City.

“It is the residents of Tamparan, particularly the farmers and fisherfolks there, that stand to benefit from the rehabilitation of their municipal market,” Adiong said.

OPAPP’s turnover of the P3 million worth check to the mayor of Tamparan came just a week after the Office of Civil Defense in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (OCD-ARMM) awarded Adiong’s office with the Gawad Kalasag Award for outstanding performance in disaster risk reduction management.

Myrna Angot, executive director of OCD-ARMM, personally handed over to Adiong a citation plaque and P30,000 cash for his office as reward for the feat.

Angot also provided Adiong’s office with 39 pairs of life vests for members of Lanao del Sur’s provincial emergency and rescue team.

"This comes as a nice, happy surprise," Adiong said, referring to the award his office received from OCD-ARMM.

ARMM to train, empower more than 1,000 women leaders

Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=851120
Friday, January 29, 2016

(PNA), FFC/NYP/EOF

COTABATO CITY (PNA) -- To enhance Bangsamoro women's political participation in local and regional governance, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) will conduct a leadership summit for about 1,000 Bangsamoro women leaders on February 1, officials said today.

According to Sittie Jehanne Mutin, chairperson of the ARMM’s Regional Commission on Bangsamoro Women (RCBW-ARMM), the 1st ARMM Bangsamoro Women Leadership Summit primarily aims to "strengthen women's roles and leadership, power and decision-making towards transformative governance."

A joint activity of RCBW-ARMM and Department of Education (DepEd)-ARMM, the summit will take place at the Shariff Kabunsuan Cultural Complex inside the ARMM Compound in Cotabato City.

Mutin said expected to attend are 1,000 women leaders from civil society organizations, local government units and the academe. Women educators from different parts of the region will also be invited, all coming from the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basian, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi that composed ARMM regional government.

Renowned speakers who have the background and expertise on women in local governance and other women advocacy were invited for the two-day summit.

"The projection is to develop a critical mass of Bangsamoro women leaders who will lead and be part of the change in governance and peace building," Mutin added.

With the theme "Strengthening Bangsamoro Women's Leadership towards Transformative Governance,” the summit will give participants “an opportunity to understand and appreciate deeper the intricacies of transformative governance that is responsive to the cultural identity of the Bangsamoro people,” Mutin said.

Republic Act 9710 or the Magna Carta for Women promotes the full participation and equitable representation of women in all aspects of society particularly in the decision-making and policy-making processes in government and public spheres entities in order to fully realize their roles as agents and beneficiaries of development.

The RCBW, being the principal women development agency of the ARMM, has initiated programs designed to empower and develop women's rights and welfare.

The programs include trainings on basic gender and development (GAD) concepts, GAD Focal Point System, gender mainstreaming, and basic gender analysis.

ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman, in previous statements, have repeatedly declared that women empowerment has been very active withe more women leaders holding government appointive and elective positions in the region.

Construction of PHP97-M emergency response operation center for ARMM underway

Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=851380
Thursday, January 28, 2016

(PNA), FFC/NYP

SHARIFF KABUNSUAN COMPLEX, Cotabato City, Jan. 28 (PNA) -- A PHP97-million state-of-the-art regional emergency response center would soon rise in this compound as headquarters of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao - Humanitarian Emergency Action Response Team (ARMM-HEART) in a bid to better serve constituents of the region in times of calamities and disasters.

Though not part of ARMM, this city serves as the provisional seat of government of the autonomous region through this complex.

The ARMM comprises the cities of Marawi and Lamitan; and the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Sulu, Basilan, and Tawi-tawi.

Ramil Masukat, regional disaster risk reduction management officer, said construction of the three-storey ARMM-HEART command facility is expected for completion by September this year.

He said the center would be fully equipped with modern disaster monitoring apparatus and supplemental rescue equipment for superior calamity response services required by the region on a 24/7 basis.

The ARMM-HEART, a convergence of agencies inclined with disaster preparedness and response, was created in 2013 to cater on emergency and humanitarian needs during man-made or natural disasters in the region.

“Amid the establishment of the new headquarters, our mission to swiftly act on the needs of ARMM constituents during disasters would continue through the help of volunteers and other regional stakeholders,” Masukat said.

Construction of the ARMM–HEART building is being undertaken by Maguindanao’s 1st District Engineering Office of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)-ARMM.

Funds for the project was taken from the ARMM’s General Appropriations Act for 2015.

ARMM welcomes entry of Php1.3-B new investment

Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=3&rid=851065
Wednesday, January 27, 2016

(PNA), FPV/PR-JS/EDS

DAVAO CITY, Jan. 27 (PNA) -- Investments in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao are in the upswing with the approval by the Regional Board of Investments (RBOI) of a Php1.3 billion worth of palm oil plantation project in Maguindanao.

Gintong Agri-corporation, a subsidiary of Agricola Holdings, a company that operates oil palm and rubber estates across Central America, West Africa and Southeast Asia has committed to initially develop 5,000 hectares of oil palm in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao. The company aims to expand up to 20,000 hectares covering the municipalities of Talayan and Guindulungan in the next decade.

“ARMM’s investment policy, along with the region’s improving peace situation has hugely contributed to the entry of big ticket investments like the Gintong Agri Corporation. In fact, the company already has long-term plans for their plantation here, which will ensure sustainability of the investment,” said Ishak Mastura, ARMM RBOI Chair.

Cooperative members from the ARMM are eyed to own and manage the lands, while the company will fund the development of the plantation as well as the technical training for the cooperative farmers. The entire project is estimated to generate 1,000 jobs for ARMM once the plantation operates into full swing.

Mastura said the Gintong Agri Corporation will also build and operate oil mill facilities in Maguindanao that will produce crude palm oil and palm kernel oil.

Last year, ARMM recorded another multi-billion worth of investment from Chiquita-Unifrutti, which poured in Php3.7 billion for Cavendish banana plantations in Maguindanao. The investment project, along with a napier grass biofuel plantation, petroleum business, and a minerals development project significantly contributed to the remarkable growth of ARMM investment, amounting to a total of Php6.5 billion by the end of 2015.

“This year is going to be another good year to generate more investments since projects related to an oil depot, bulk water treatment and supply on industrial waste management and treatment are now in the works,” said Mastura.

ARMM hit its first billion-worth of investment in 2013, amounting to Php1.4 billion. It more than doubled the following year when RBOI recorded Php3.86 billion investments in 2014. Last year’s record is up by almost 60 percent from 2014.

“This influx of investments indicates improved governance in the ARMM thereby increasing investor confidence, as demonstrated by the region’s sustained investment growth under the Aquino administration,” said MinDA Chairperson Luwalhati Antonino.

Antonino further noted that all the necessary infrastructure support are also in place for ARMM, primarily focusing on the gateways for the ARMM areas. Under the Mindanao Development Corridors Program being coordinated by MinDA, the revitalization and development of the Polloc port and Awang Airport are among the priority projects in the ARMM.

“Our long-term plan is to fully connect all regions in Mindanao through various public-private partnerships projects to spur massive development and inclusive growth across ARMM and entire Mindanao,” Antonino said.

Maguindanao’s agri-fishery council undergoes I-REAP orientation

Source:http://news.pia.gov.ph/article/view/1611453758929/maguindanao-s-agri-fishery-council-undergoes-i-reap-orientation-
Tuesday, January 26, 2016

(DEDoguiles-PIA 12 with report from DA-ARMM RAFID)

COTABATO CITY, Jan. 26 (PIA) — The agriculture and fishery councils in Maguindanao recently underwent orientation on the Philippine Rural Development Program’s (PRDP) I-REAP Small Livelihood Project (SLP).

I-REAP stands for Investment for Rural Enterprises and Agricultural and Fisheries Productivity.

It is a component of the PRDP which aims to strengthen and develop viable agri-fishery based enterprises through efficient value chains of key agricultural and fishery products in targeted project areas by providing technical, financial and infrastructure support.

PRDP ARMM Program Coordination Office Deputy Project Director Kalunsiang Dimalen said the orientation is a means to align investments that would boost investment opportunities in ARMM.

Over 60 participants representing municipal, provincial and regional agriculture and fishery councils were trained on drafting livelihood project proposals.

The orientation included identifying the qualified cooperatives that will implement the livelihood projects.

At the said event, Maguindanao Provincial Agriculturist Daud Lagasi reminded the council members that they are responsible in carrying out programs that would alleviate the economic conditions of the farmers and fisherfolk in the autonomous region.

Proposals for livelihood projects should be endorsed by the Regional Program Coordination Office-ARMM to the PRDP Program Support Office.

Maguindanao exec to lead medical mission on 1st year anniv of Mamasapano incident

Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=850024
Monday, January 25, 2016

(PNA), FPV/NYP/EOF

COTABATO CITY, Jan. 25(PNA) – Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Toto Mangudadatu will lead this morning the dispersal of toys and relief goods to residents of Mamasapano, Maguindanao in commemoration of the first year anniversary of the so called “Mamasapano debacle.”

“This medical outreach and relief mission should remind us that we, as a community, should prevent that incident from happening again anywhere in the province,” Mangudadatu said.

Forty- four operatives of the police Special Action Force, 17 members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and five villagers died in what was supposed to be a successful operation that killed Malaysian bomber Zulkifli bin Hir but turned bloody.

According to Maguindanao Provincial Budget Officer Lynette Estandarte, also chief of Maguindano’s emergency and disaster response team, the provincial government will distribute food packs, household items and other intervention to continue helping the locals cope with the bloody incident.

A semi-concrete walkway across the Tukanalipao river, a Mosque and other projects have been implemented by Maguindanao provincial government and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

A covered court for barangay Tukanalipao will be constructed starting today to allow villagers to have a venue for village gathering.

ARMM has earmarked almost Php100 funds for projects as part of efforts to hasten the recovery of local folks.

A year after Mamasapano: 'Time heals all wounds' – ARMM gov

Source:http://www.rappler.com/nation/120072-mujiv-hataman-one-year-after-mamasapano
Sunday, January 24, 2016 4:01 pm

(Rappler.com)

'Time heals all wounds, we've been told. It has been a year, but it wasn't just the past 12 months that allowed us to recover and rebuild,' says ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman

MANILA, Philippines – A year after the failed Mamasapano operation that happened on January 25, 2015, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Governor Mujiv Hataman said the region and people have already recovered from the unfateful incident.

Hataman said time has “[healed] all wounds,” even as questions remain unanswered on why the botched operation, which killed at least 60 people, happened and who is responsible for it. The Senate is set to re-open the Mamasapano probe on Wednesday, January 27. (READ: TIMELINE: Mamasapano clash)

Forty-four of those killed were members of the Philippine National Police Special Action Force (PNP SAF), part of “Oplan Exodus,” an operation targeting international terrorists that took a wrong turn and led to clashes with members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), and private armed groups (PAGs). (READ: SAF 44: The women they left behind)

“Time heals all wounds, we've been told. It has been a year, but it wasn't just the past 12 months that allowed us to recover and rebuild. It was our peoples' capacity for mutual understanding and our refusal to act in unjust ways despite the anger, that has allowed us to move forward together,” Hataman said in a statement Sunday, January 24.

Hataman said “fear and doubt” were the “most difficult” issues to address during the past one year.

Citing the symbolic wooden bridge near the area of the clash, Hataman said it is a constant reminder of what happened.

“The old bridge still stands, however, a striking reminder of what happened a year ago – that we need to remember, that we need to overcome, and that which still needs to be done.”

'National government helped us'

The earlier Senate probe pinpointed President Benigno Aquino III as responsible for the botched operation. Despite issues against Aquino, Hataman said the administration has continuously helped them in their recovery – building of schools, roads, mosques, and other infrastructure developments, among others.

Hataman said the national government has reaffirmed its commitment for peace and development of Mamasapano and the entire ARMM, even as the administration-backed Bangsamoro Basic Law remains pending in Congress as a result of the deadly clash between rebels and government troops.

“This continuous process of healing and rebuilding is not without its challenges. It is easy to stoke the flames of conflict and to act in anger, without thought but, as we have always done, we continue to choose what is best for our people,” he said.

ARMM to issue new wage order for private workers

Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=848319
Saturday, January 23, 2016

(PNA), JBP/NYP/EOF

COTABATO CITY (PNA) -- The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards (RTWPB) in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is set to issue a new wage order adjusting wages of workers in the private sector, a labor official on Wednesday said.

According to Muslimin Jakilan, ARMM’s Secretary of the Department of Labor and Employment and chairman of the RTWPB, the new order will be based on Republic Act 6727, otherwise known as the Wage Rationalization Act, which introduces reforms in minimum wage fixing, specifically the Two-Tiered Wage System.

In a statement, Jakilan said since 2003, ARMM has been adopting a “one-wage, or uniform wage” rate system for minimum wage earners involved in non-agriculture and agriculture employment.

Non-agriculture sector jobs refer to those in manufacturing, commercial and academe, while those in the agriculture sector cover plantation and non-plantation farm workers.

“It is about time to issue another order so that workers in ARMM could cope with the current socio-economic condition in the region,” Jakilan said.

Following a series of consultations with stakeholders, Jakilan said the RTWPB-ARMM is set to decide on the new wage adjustments applying the First Tier, which constitutes the minimum mandatory wage rate in ARMM on Wednesday, January 20.

Currently, minimum wage earners in ARMM are receiving P250 daily.

“Using the regional poverty threshold as a major reference data for the region, the Board is looking for some strategies to address the prevailing minimum wage gap,” he said.

On top of the mandatory wage adjustments, workers will also receive productivity bonuses and incentives subject to an agreement with their employers as advocated in the Second Tier adjustment scheme, Jakilan added.

As of April 2015, there are more or less 566,945 private workers in the region awaiting wage adjustment decision from the Board, which is chaired by Jakilan and representatives from ARMM Regional Planning and Development Office and Department of Trade and Industry-ARMM Secretary as vice-chairmen, as well as representatives from the workers and employers.

PAMANA projects to benefit 2,000 villages in ARMM

Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=849156
Friday, January 22, 2016

(PNA),LGI/NYP/EOF

COTABATO CITY (PNA) -- There's no let up in the government's efforts to improve poor villages in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) under the national government’s Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan (PAMANA) program through the region’s Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD-ARMM).

Rahima Alba, DSWD-ARMM regional secretary, said at least 2,000 barangays in the five-province autonomous region are expected to receive development projects within the year.

The projects would be delivered under the PAMANA Community Driven Development (CDD) Expansion and PAMANA MNLF Program.

The PAMANA CDD Expansion will target a total of 1,777 barangays in the entire region while the PAMANA MNLF is set to be implemented in 291 pre-identified barangays in 74 ARMM municipalities. Both initiatives are in their last year of implementation.

Alba, also PAMANA program manager, said this year’s PAMANA will be geared towards sustainability of the cooperatives the program has established and supported.

“We want them (beneficiary cooperatives) to continue operating, and for them to have even wider opportunities in their localities. Even if the program ends, they can sustain their development,” Alba said.

In 2016, PAMANA-CDD will boost its implementation through the Integrated Community Enterprising Market Program. This will augment livelihood opportunities in conflict-affected and conflict-vulnerable communities in three modalities that include Capacity development trainings, Production of inputs; and Additional capital assistance.

Alba said each barangay would have a total project cost allocation of PhP300,000.

The PAMANA MNLF program, on the other hand, will provide services to the families of MNLF combatants through healthcare benefits, college scholarships, tech-voc capacity development, and livelihood ventures support. Each identified MNLF cooperative is allotted a project cost ceiling worth Php885,000 from DSWD-ARMM.

From January 15 to 18, DSWD-ARMM has conducted an orientation and planning workshop that marked the start of the 2016 project implementation of the program.

It was designed to orient the stakeholders at the provincial level on the new process and mechanisms of implementation of the last cycle of PAMANA.

The program’s provincial teams, provincial social welfare officers, project development officers, provincial focal persons, and special project staff attended the three-day activity spearheaded by the agency’s Regional Project Management Office.

Also present were officials from the PAMANA National Project Management Office, which is under the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPPAP).

Howard Cafugauan, OPAPP assistant secretary for Special Programs, said by the end of 2015, a total of 5,659 households were covered with health insurance, 400 beneficiaries received study grants, and 5,115 households – specifically those displaced by the 2008 conflict brought about by the rejection of the Memorandum of Agreement on the Ancestral Domain – were provided with shelters.

PAMANA is a project aimed at making citizens become stronger agents of peace and development in the region and in the country.

This is the current administration’s peace and development framework anchored on promoting inclusive growth and lasting peace.

DSWD extends livelihood aid to ARMM indigent residents

Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=849163
Thursday, January 21, 2016

(PNA), LGI/NYP/EOF

COTABATO CITY, Jan. 21 (PNA) -- More than 12,000 indigent residents in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) who wish to start up their own livelihood projects would receive financial assistance Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD-ARMM), a social welfare official on Thursday said.

Rahima Alba, ARMM social welfare secretary, said the beneficiaries are members of 480 Self Employment Assistance-Kaunlaran (SEA-K) associations across the region.

We can now distribute what is due to each SEA-K association,” Alba told reporters.

She added the capital funds will assist the beneficiaries to put up own source of income such as small business or to support livelihood such as farming or fishing.

SEA-K associations, each composed of 25 members, were established in August 2012 through the initiative of DSWD-ARMM. Alba noted that the program was funded by the department’s Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP), which has a total funding of PhP120 million.

On Wednesday, 87 associations in the provinces of Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur received funding of PhP250,000 during a ceremony held at the ARMM Compound here.

Close to 400 more SEA-K associations from the provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi are set to receive similar grants this year.

To receive capital funds, associations must submit a livelihood proposal to be validated by the Regional Program Management Office of DSWD-ARMM.

Alba noted that most of the proposals submitted were small businesses as well as fishing and farming-related projects.

The target recipients of the SLP are Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) members, and beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, the flagship initiative of DSWD-ARMM.

One of the recipients was Anisa Abdulfatah, 55, a resident of Poblacion, Shariff Aguak town in Maguindanao, who received PhP10,000 which she said will be used to put up a small cafeteria.

Abdulfatah is the president of MNLF Women’s Business Sector based in Shariff Aguak.

“Some of the members will also set up small eateries, similar to mine,” Abdulfatah said.

During the event, ARMM Executive Secretary Laisa Alamia posed a challenge to the recipients.

“We need to ensure the commitment of our SLP beneficiaries to use the capital funds purposely,” Alamia told the recipients.

"We hope that the business you will set up will prosper,” Alamia added.

“This is one of the most important programs of DSWD,” Alba said.

ARMM modern emergency unit building to rise in Cotabato City

Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=847795
Wednesday, January 20, 2016

(PNA), FFC/NYP/EOF

COTABATO CITY (PNA) -- To make an important agency in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) to function quickly and organize its emergency response, officials on Monday launched the construction of a PHP38.6 million operations center of the Humanitarian Emergency Assistance and Response Team (HEART), officials said.

The HEART, established by ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman in 2013, is an emergency and disaster response unit to quickly attend to needs of its constituents in times of disaster, both man-made and natural calamities.

Hataman led the groundbreaking rites for the building that will house all offices and agencies under ARMM-HEART. It also include a modern monitoring facilities and conference room for training of its personnel on life saving activities.

Hataman said the building will rise inside the ARMM regional center in Cotabato City, complete with operation planning room, a conference room, staff quarters, and a warehouse, where HEART workers are to keep their rescue gears and relief supplies ready for dispersal to calamity-stricken areas.

He told reporters the national government will fund the project.

Hataman said while the emergency team's priority is ARMM provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, it has also served areas outside ARMM, like Zamboaonga City during a man-made calamity in 2013 and the Pablo and Yolanda typhoon victims in other parts of Mindanao and Visayas.

"Emergency response recognizes no boundaries, so we are ready," he said.

Diabetic, hypertensive ARMM residents get maintenance medicine from gov't

Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=7&rid=847816
Tuesday, January 19, 2016

(PNA), BNB/NYP/EOF

COTABATO CITY (PNA) –- Health officials in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) have provided free maintenance medicine for residents suffering from diabetes and hypertension, two of the leading causes of death in the region.

Health providers have conducted the medical outreach program in the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

In a statement, Joery Amad, regional diabetes educator, said the medicines will help combat diabetes and hypertension – two interrelated conditions – and the complications brought about by these two illnesses.

“The free medicines will help prevent the complications these two conditions bring,” Amad said.

While these medicines are given for free, these can only be given to members of Department of Health Hypertension and Diabetes Club.

Amad advised those who have diabetes and hypertensive patients to go to the nearest health center and undergo assessment, screening, and management through the Philippine Package of Essential NCD (non-communicable disease) Intervention protocol.

When diagnosed with hypertension or diabetes, or both, the patient will be enrolled in the club.

He stressed that patients can access “metformin,” a maintenance medicine for diabetes, and “losartan,” “amlodipine,” and “metoprolol,” which are for hypertension cases, at the regional office here and in rural health units on a monthly basis.

Diabetes, a non-communicable disease, is among the top causes of deaths in the Philippines, according to the World Health Organization. Of the total health-related deaths monitored in 2008, 57 percent are due to the “fatal four” NCDs, namely cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and chronic respiratory disease.

While diabetes posts a risk to most Filipinos, its rate of prevalence in the ARMM is among the lowest in the country with 3.8 percent alongside with Northern Mindanao (Region X) and Ilocos (Region I) with 3.3 percent and 4.0 percent, respectively.

The numbers are based on the 8th National Nutrition Survey conducted by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

The survey also showed that ARMM is among the regions with the lowest hypertension prevalence at 17.3 percent with the neighboring Zamboanga (Region IX) at a lower rate 17.2 percent.

The DOST survey was conducted from June 2013 to April 2014, covering all 17 regions of the country, 79 provinces, 45,047 households and 172,323 individuals.

It also showed that the prevalence of hypertension slightly decreased while that of diabetes increased from 2008 to 2013 nationwide.

RBOI-ARMM approves, welcomes 2016 with Php1.3-B oil palm investments

Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=3&rid=847672
Monday, January 18, 2016

(PNA), FPV/NYP/EOF

COTABATO CITY, Jan. 18 (PNA) –- Officials of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) said the Regional Board of Investments (RBOI) was off to a good start this year after it approved Friday the registration of Php1.3 billion oil-palm plantation project of Gintong Agri-Corporation.

This is despite of the uncertainty of over the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) passing into law in Congress.

Lawyer Ishak Mastura, RPOI-ARMM chair, said Gintong Agri Corporation, for its initial operation will develop a hectare oil palm plantation in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao.

It envisioned to expand up to 20,000 hectares over the next years to several municipalities in the ARMM particularly in the adjoining Talayan and Guindulungan.

The company is investing into sustainable oil palm production and in due course build and operate palm oil mill facilities in Maguindanao to produce crude palm oil and palm kernel oil, Mastura said of the region’s newest investor.

Gintong Agri Corporation is a majority Singaporean-owned in joint venture with local community cooperatives whose members own the lands while the company funds their development and manage the nucleus estate, provide technical advice and the market to the farmers.

The project is set to create 1,000 jobs upon its full operations.

During its board meeting over the weekend, RBOI-ARMM officials asked Alex Fergusson, the firm’s president, whether or not the BBL was a primary factor in their decision to invest in the ARMM. Fergusson said that with or without BBL they were already decided in investing in the ARMM.

Spill over of fighting in Mamasapano, Maguindanao was an initial concern for the company earlier in 2015 but since no widespread fighting broke out they decided to continue with the investment.

Clashes erupted in Mamasapano in January last year with the elite police unit neutralizing the country’s most wanted man – Malaysian bomber Zulkifli bin Hir but figured in a clash with Moro rebels, leaving 66 persons killed, 44 of whom were Special Action Force member.

That conflict did not escalate so the province remained investment friendly, Fergusson said.

The firm’s president also said that stability of investment policy was very important and whatever the fate of BBL will not diminish the ease of doing business in the ARMM.

The ARMM-based Promotion of Investment Sustainability Organization (PISO), led by Edgar Bullecer, has expressed concern that the House of Representatives substituted bill, now renamed BLBAR, removed the fiscal incentives for firms investing in the ARMM.

PISO presented its position paper to the Senate Committee on Local Government of Senator Ferdinand Marcos to push for a BBL that is compliant to the peace agreement signed with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

It also underscored that any autonomy framework less than the ARMM as what had happened with the House of Representatives BLBAR version will lead to instability in investment policies undermining investor confidence in the region.

Bullecer also said that their company, Chiquita-Unifrutti, the largest foreign investor in the ARMM having invested P3.7 billion last year in cavendish banana plantations in Maguindanao, was determined to continue investing in the region with or without the BBL.

He admitted, though, that a watered-down BBL as represented by the BLBAR will make it harder to invest in the region because investors will have to get their permits and approvals of projects from the national government, similar to the experience with mere local government units, which are not autonomous regions.

As an autonomous region, the ARMM regional government grants permits, licenses, franchises and approvals for investments in the region under the ARMM Organic Act without interference from the national government.

Haron Bandila, ARMM Business Council chair, warned about passing the BLBAR version currently pending in Congress may cause chaos and called instead for the passage of the agreed upon original version of the BBL.

Mastura said that 2015 recorded a whopping Php6.5 billion total investment despite the Mamasapano tragedy.

”This optimism will continue this 2016 since more investors are expected to come and stay in the region, confident that they can do good business despite some peace process issues, which were aggravated by the Mamasapano incident,” Mastura added.

“Year 2016 is election time and this may pose some challenges to the agency since investors are usually in their wait and see mode during this period,” Mastura added.

However, the RBOI chair remains positive that 2016 is going to be another good year to generate more ARMM investments since projects related to an oil depot, bulk water treatment and supply and on industrial waste management and treatment are now in the pipeline.

Malaysian business leaders to visit Cotabato City late January

Source:http://www.mb.com.ph/malaysian-business-leaders-to-visit-cotabato-city/
Sunday, January 17, 2016

By Ali G. Macabalang

COTABATO CITY – Traders and local government officials are preparing for the visit of leaders from three large business groups in the State of Johor, Malaysia this month, after forging a bilateral trade link.

City Mayor Japal Guiani Jr. said the visiting investors from the ISKANDAR Regional Development Authority, Johor Corporation, and IMCoop – the three big business players in Johor – have confirmed their arrival in the city on January 25 to meet local counterparts and attend a business forum on January 27.

“This is a breakthrough in our campaign for more investments in our city,” Guiani said, referring to the visit of the Johor-based business groups. “It will flesh out our business chambers’ dream to link up with foreign markets.”

The mayor and his entourage had visited late last year the State of Johor and forged trade deals with the three firms on various business concerns, including energy development.

In an earlier statement, Guiani said a Johor-based group engaged in energy industry had volunteered to provide two giant generators to beef up electricity supplies in the city, which is usually gripped by rotational brownouts.

Officials of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) have also expressed elation over the recent arrival at the Polloc International Seaport in Parang, Maguindanao of a vessel from Vietnam that shipped in at least 8,400 metric tons of cement.

Hexsan Mabang, acting manager of the Polloc Port, said the arrival late last year of the Vietnamese vessel came as an opening salvo after authorities in Vietnam learned of tremendous improvements in ARMM seaport management since 2014.

He said the importation of the Vietnam-made cement was also timely for the intensified campaign for concreting roads in Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi and the cities of Marawi and Lamitan.

“The revitalization of the operations of ports in ARMM draws full support from the present administration,” Mabang said, referring to the partnership in governance of Regional Governor Mujiv Hataman and President Benigno Aquino III.

ARMM starts another anti-poverty program

Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=847054
Saturday, January 16, 2016

(PNA), RMA/NYP/EOF

COTABATO CITY (PNA) – The Department of Social Welfare and Development- Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) has launched another anti-poverty program in selected underprivileged communities in the region.

Called “Apat Dapat” program, the anti-poverty project is part of DSWD-ARMM's efforts to combat poverty in the five-province region.

The program’s pilot run is set to last until December 2016, and will cater to the 40 poorest families in 15 select ARMM municipalities, according to DSWD-ARMM Secretary Rahima Alba.

Alba said the “Apat Dapat” program supplements the ongoing poverty alleviation initiatives both of the regional and national government.

She said the program would follow the ‘four for the poor formula,’ which zeroes in on the four most basic needs of a family, namely food, water, light, and shelter.

The four basic needs were determined by a study regarding poverty incidence in the region, conducted by the Regional Planning and Development Office (RPDO).

Alba said in a statement that major interventions included ensuring families were housed in secure homes with its own water and sanitation system and a basic lighting facility, while providing them with the means to expand their livelihood and achieve food sufficiency along the way.

“Combating poverty has two phases, the long-term and the short-term. While the ‘Apat Dapat program’ is initially a short-term program, gradually we’re expecting that we’ll earn the necessary experience and milestones for the continuity and expansion of the program into a long-term solution to poverty,” Alba said.

To ensure that the program will meet its goals, the DSWD will oversee the conduct of case management of every household. It also hopes to coordinate with the Department of Health’s rural health units and its nutritionists in monitoring the health.

Three towns in five provinces of the region comprised the 15 pilot areas.

These are the towns of Matanog, Barira and Datu Anggal Midtimbang in Maguindanao; Balindong, Lumba-Bayabao, and Taraka in Lanao del Sur; Tuburan, Tipu-tipo, and Sumisip in Basilan; Talipao, Parang, and Pandami in Sulu; and Tandubas, Simunul, and Sibutu in Tawi-Tawi.

65,000 ARMM farmers, fisherfolks stand to get aid from agri office in 2016

Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=846840
Friday, January 15, 2016

(PNA), FFC/NYP/EOF

COTABATO CITY, Jan. 15 (PNA) –- Farmers and fisher folks in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) are expected to receive assistance from the region’s Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF-ARMM) through its Agri-Pinoy Program, an agriculture official today said.

Alexander Alonto, DAF-ARMM secretary, said his office will provide assistance to 64,271 farmers and 866 agriculture groups during the first quarter of 2016.

Alonto said programs and projects for the entire year are already in place to empower farmers and farming communities in the region.

“We assure all the farmers that the lined-up programs for 2016 will be implemented to support them,” Alonto said.

”Agrikulturang Pilipino,” or Agri-Pinoy, is DA’s over-all strategic framework that guides the various agricultural services and programs of the government from 2011-2016 and beyond.

It incorporates principles and practices that optimize the development of Philippine resources, natural and human, to achieve Philippine goals in agriculture and fisheries that would contribute significantly to national development.

The DAF-ARMM Agri-Pinoy Program has a total budget of PHP451.2 million this year. In 2015, it has an allocation of PHP417.4 million.

Alonto said under Agri-Pinoy’s Rice Program alone, a total of 48,971 farmers and 255 agricultural groups would receive hybrid and certified palay seeds, as well as agricultural equipment specifically 170 units of hand tractor, floating tiller, trans-planter and multi-purpose dying pavement, among others.

Already in the pipeline to be implemented during the first quarter of 2016 are 10 mechanical corn shellers under the Agri-Pinoy corn program.

Data from Philippine Statistics Authority showed the total value of agricultural production in the country, at constant prices, reached PHP568.7 billion covering the period January to September 2015.

ARMM, composed of the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, is primarily agricultural, as reflected in the region’s Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP).

Iskak Paguital, DAF-ARMM’s chief of staff, said the largest portion of GRDP comes from agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing – accounting for 61.3 percent in 2013, and 58.8 percent in 2014.

Paguital said production of priority commodities and high-value crops in the region must be increased since ARMM has an agriculture-dependent economy.

He said 606 agricultural associations and cooperatives are scheduled to receive interventions under the High-Value Crops Development Program this year.

For 2016, Alonto said the region is targeting to harvest a total of 659,970 metric tons of agricultural products. As envisioned for 2016, an estimated 230,759 hectares of land would be planted with crops this year.

ARMM has 533,410 hectares total agricultural land – 145,477 hectares of which are palay areas.

ARMM traders favor proposed Islamic banking system

Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=845875
Thursday, January 14, 2016

(PNA), JBP/NYP/EOF

COTABATO CITY (PNA) -- Business leaders in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and in Region 12 on Tuesday expressed optimism for the establishment of the country’s Islamic Banking System.

Authored by Anak Mindanao (Amin) Partylist Rep. Rep. Sitti Djalia Turabin-Hataman, HB 5989 is still being deliberated in the House of Representatives.

Muslim and Christian business leaders in the region attended yesterday’s first roundtable discussion (RTD) on HB 5989 here.

Aside from Hataman, speakers included Salem Ghandour of the Maybank Islamic Berhad in Malaysia and Isidro Sobrecarey of the Amanah Islamic Bank.

All cited the advantages of an Islamic banking system to operate in the country.

Hataman said under her proposed Islamic banking system law, banks do not rely on high interest rates to sustain operation but push for moderate to socialized interest charges.

Anchored on Islam, the banking system prohibits usury or taking high interest on cash loans and cater mostly on the poor as well as moneyed traders.

Officials of the autonomous region said many Muslim traders prefer Islamic banking system and hope Hataman’s bill will hurdle Congress.

Ghandour explain that while Islamic banking system offers low interest rates it has no conflict with conventional and commercial banks.

After lauding the warm reception of ARMM business leaders, Hataman said she will continue dialogue through roundtable discussions with other stakeholders relative to her proposed bill.

ARMM tourist arrivals up in 2015, officials sees more visitors in 2016

Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=6&rid=846062
Wednesday, January 13, 2016

(PNA), FFC/NYP/EOF

COTABATO CITY, Jan. 13 (PNA) –- The Department of Tourism in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (DOT-ARMM) Wednesday said tourist arrivals in Tawi-Tawi last year reached a record high of 55,085 foreign and domestic visitors.

And in 2015, tourists spent almost PHP1 billion, according to Engr. Marites Maguindra, ARMM's Tourism Department Secretary.

The 55,085 visitors recorded by tourism office last year was 14.3 percent higher as compared to 2014, and posted PHP965 million in gross tourism receipts.

In a statement, Maguindra said about 48,189 tourists came to the province for holiday or business purposes.

Tawi-Tawi is the southernmost province in the country and covers small islands in the Sulu Sea and to the northwest, the Cagayan de Tawi-Tawi Island and Turtle Island.

To reach irresistible Tawi-Tawi small islands from urban areas quicker, the ARMM government has been building more roads in the province.

Maguindra said the ARMM’s Public Works and Highways (DPWH-ARMM) has earmarked PHP55 million for the construction and development of Tawi-Tawi’s famous peak, Bud Bongao.

She said tourism projects in Bud Bongao include a multi-purpose hall, a view deck, a station point, a concrete pathway, a parking area, and a billboard.

“Once the development of Bud Bongao is completed, tourist arrivals and gross receipts in Tawi-Tawi will further increase,” Maguindra said.

She said DOT-ARMM will develop ecotourism packages in Tawi-Tawi and some of the activities to be promoted are scuba diving, island hopping, and visits to local communities.

Among the province’s major tourist sites are the Panampangan Island, the white beaches in the municipalities of Sapa-Sapa and Sitangkai, Boloboc Cave in Sanga-Sanga Island and Turtle Island.

Meanwhile, DOT-ARMM reported a total of 192,307 visitors in 2015 with PHP3.4 billion in gross receipts. In 2014, tourist arrivals were at 168,178 with gross receipts of PHP2.9 billion.

The figures showed a significant increase of 14.3 percent in tourist arrivals and 17.2 percent in gross receipts.

In its annual report, DOT-ARMM said the spike in tourism arrivals was noted in the last quarter 2015 during which Agal-Agal (Seaweeds) Festival and Sheikh Karimul Makhdum, the Islamic missionary who first brought Islam in the islands.

The region is composed of the mainland provinces of Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur and the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

Maguindra said the ARMM tourism gross receipts were generated from cultural and nature, sun and beach, diving and marine sports, and other relevant events.

“The achievement is because of the beautiful beaches, scenic spots and the improved security measures in the region,” Maguindra said.

According to Engr. Don Mustapha Loong, DPWH-ARMM secretary, his office is providing assistance to the tourism industry with the construction of access roads to various sites in the region.

To strengthen tourism linkages, the DOT-ARMM gathered hundreds of tourism officers and industry players across the region for a tourism assembly held last year.

“It’s more fun in ARMM thus, we should be the first ones to push and develop these (sites) since we are the ones who know these well,” Sec. Maguindra said.

Maguindra remained optimistic that with all the efforts of the ARMM government, she is confident that DOT-ARMM will exceed our its achievements this year.

Officials back stricter gun ban implementation in ARMM

Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=845599
Tuesday, January 12, 2016

(PNA), FFC/NYP/EOF

BULUAN, Maguindanao, Jan. 12 (PNA) -– Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu Tuesday recommended the continuation of state of emergency (SOE) and stricter implementation of election gun ban.

The province has been under SOE since November 2009 following the Maguindanao massacre, the country’s worst election related violence. Then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declared SOE to intensify the recovery of loose firearms of the then Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr., tagged as the brain behind the carnage.

Fifty-eight persons were killed, more than half were journalists, when Ampatuan’s followers slaughtered the victims in a hilly portion of Ampatuan town.

Mangudadatu told reporters he believed the retention of SOE in Maguindanao will ensure peaceful, orderly and safe 2016 elections.

”We should allow the voters to freely choose their candidates, let’s do away with dirty politics,” Mangudadatu said, apparently referring to all political aspirants in May’s national and local elections.

”We want the SOE to stay for the safety of our people, especially during this election period,” Mangudadatu said.

Most, if not all, of 36 towns in Maguindanao are considered to be home to loose firearms in the hands of lawless elements, private armed groups and Moro rebel groups.

The SOE also covers Cotabato City which hosts the regional center of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) but is part of Administrative Region 12.

As the implementation of gun ban entered its third day, ARMM officials expressed support to the campaign to ensure the upcoming balloting will be peaceful and bloodless political and democratic exercises.

Regional Gov. Mujiv Hataman vowed to help the poll body implement ban on carrying of firearms throughout the region.

Hataman said all the provincial police directors in all five provinces ordered to strictly impose Comelec’s firearm ban without fear or favor.

“The ARMM government is in full support of the restriction on carrying of guns during the election period because it can help ensure a peaceful conduct of elections,” he told reporters.

As in other areas of the country, the Comelec gun ban started on Sunday in the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, traditionally known as loose firearms’ depot in the country.

Chief Supt. Ronald Estilles, police regional director for the ARMM, said local police officials were directed to enlist all stakeholders in the campaign and to help maintaining peaceful campaign period ahead of the May national and local elections.

ARMM bans sardines fishing in Sulu Sea, Basilan Strait for 3 months

Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=845455
Monday, January 11, 2016

By Edwin O. Fernandez [(PNA), RMA/JSV/NYP/EOF]

COTABATO CITY, Jan. 11 (PNA) -- The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BFAR-ARMM) has started implementing a three-month closed season for sardine fishing off Sulu Sea and Basilan Strait to allow fish to spawn freely.

“The annual ban is intended to conserve the population (of sardines),” Jerusalem Abdullahim, chief of the Fisheries Regulatory and Law Enforcement Division of BFAR-ARMM said in a statement Monday.

The ban would last until March 31.

Abdullahim said pursuant to Section 2 of Republic Act (RA) 8550, or the Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998, sardine fishing in the area, which covers the waters of East Sulu Sea, Basilan Strait, and Sibuguay Bay, is temporarily suspended to give way to the spawning period.

He said the ban also includes the selling, buying and possessing of sardines caught within the conservation area, which is approximately 6,481.80 square nautical miles, or 22,260.36 square kilometers.

This is the fifth annual ban imposed by the fishery office during the spawning period that starts in December and ends in March.

Abdullahim reiterated that the measure will hopefully help increase sardine stocks within the closed sardine fishing area.

“Our office has deployed patrol vessels in the island provinces in collaboration with the Philippine Navy, Coast Guard and Maritime Police to enforce the closed season,” he added.

Under Section 86 of RA 10654, violators of the fishing ban will be penalized with confiscation of catch and gear, and will be slapped with an administrative fine equivalent to five times the value of the catch, or a penalty ranging from Php 50,000, for small-scale commercial fishing to Php 5 million for large-scale commercial fishing.

The waters of Zamboanga and the island provinces in the ARMM, specifically Sulu and Basilan, are not the only areas where sardine fishing ban has been implemented.

BFAR national office also reinforced a sardine-closed season in the Visayan Sea and its surrounding waters.

It was in Zamboanga Peninsula, Sulu Sea and Basilan Strait where the country’s largest concentration of sardines is located. These waters are also spawning grounds for yellow fin tuna and other tuna-like species.

Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data covering July-September 2015 showed that ARMM produced 1,328.17 metric tons of Indian sardines, or ‘tamban.’

As of Jan. 6, 2016, data from BFAR’s national office showed ARMM has 221,784 registered fisher folks out of the nationwide total of 1,645,013 fishing persons.

ARMM gets P10.1-billion budget for infrastructure

Source:http://www.mb.com.ph/armm-gets-p10-1-billion-budget-for-infrastructure/
Sunday, January 10, 2016

By Ali G. Macabalang

Cotabato City – The national government has allocated P10.1 billion for infrastructure projects in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) for this year.

While the ARMM infrastructure budget remains the smallest among all the regions in the country, the allocation would have to suffice to support peace and development in the region, according to Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)-ARMM Secretary Don Mustapha Loong.

The infrastructure subsidy would be implemented with maximum transparence to the optimum benefit of the general populace in ARMM,” Loong said.

The ARMM share will be allocated by the DPWH central office for its regional office in the autonomous region to implement.

Regional Legislative Assembly Speaker Ronnie Sinsuat and Regional Governor Mujiv Hataman signed late last month Muslim Mindanao Autonomy (MMA) Act No. 325 of 2016.

The local law appropriates the P10.1B subsidy to construction, upgrading, and operation or maintenance of roads, highways, bridges, flood control, water supply systems, sea and air ports, and other infrastructure projects excluding buildings.

In last four or five years, the DPWH-ARMM has gradually shed its former image of being one of the two most corruption-laden agencies in the autonomous region. Such feat earned regional and national awards for the leadership of the agency in 2013, 14 and 2015, it was learned.

Reforms in the DPWH-ARMM began in 2012 when President Aquino, through Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson tasked Assistant Secretary Emil Sadain to fix lapses in engineering management and operations in the autonomous region, official reports said.

The budget was increased to P1-billion under the Arroyo government. The subsidy was budgeted annually by the ARMM legislative assembly in what Sadain once lamented as graft-prone allocations for “gravelling and re-gravelling of local roads.”

MILF gets agricultural equipment, farm animals

Source:http://mindanaoexaminer.com/milf-gets-agricultural-equipment-farm-animals/
Saturday, January 9, 2016

(Bureau of Public Information)

COTABATO CITY – About P26 million worth of agricultural equipment, planting materials and farm animals were turned over to beneficiaries in six Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) camps on Wednesday, January 6, in a ceremony held in Simuay in Sultan Kudarat and Maguindanao provinces.

Secretary Proceso Alcala of the Department of Agriculture (DA) said the turnover is part of the Camp Transformation Program launching of the department, which aims at converting former MILF camps into “peaceful and productive communities.” The initiative was organized by the Camp Transformation Task Force and the DA’s-Farmers’ Assistance Program.

Senen Bacani, former Agriculture Secretary and member of the government peace panel in the southern peace talks, said the initiative is part of the normalization process stipulated under the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) signed between the MILF and the Philippine government in March 2015.

The farmer beneficiaries comprise 145 combatants of the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) decommissioned in June 2015. The Annex on Normalization of the CAB indicates that socio-economic programs will be provided and that such programs will be undertaken for the rehabilitation, reconstruction and development of the decommissioned members of the BIAF and their communities and the transformation of the six MILF camps identified by the peace panel.

The camp transformation program is an initial confidence-building measure under the Bangsamoro peace process with the end in view of turning the camps into peaceful and productive areas.

The farming equipment and implements turned over include six heavy-duty farm tractors with complete accessories; six units cassava grater; six units corn sheller and six units of hand tractor. Also distributed to the beneficiaries are 1,200 bags of palay seeds; 1,200 bags of palay fertilizers; 1,200 bags of corn seeds and 1,200 bags of corn fertilizers.

The other planting materials include 1,300 seedlings of rambutan, lanzones, jackfruit, coffee, achuete and guyabano. Eighteen carabaos were also provided for a livestock dispersal project.

The five of the six MILF camps –Abubakar, Omar, Badre, Rajamuda and Bushra – are located in the provinces of Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, two of the five component provinces of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Camp Bilal, the sixth camp is located in Lanao del Norte, which falls under Region 10, or Northern Mindanao.

More than 1,000 participants witnessed the ceremonial turnover including MILF members and local chief executives. It was led by Agriculture Secretary Alcala; peace panel member Bacani, DA Assistant Secretary Edilberto de Luna, national focal person for Camp Transformation Program; Alexander Alonto, ARMM’s Agriculture and Fisheries secretary; and Amalia Jayag-Datukan, DA-12 regional executive director.

Sec. Alcala said since 2011, 30% of DA’s total budget was allocated to Mindanao.

DepEd-ARMM to continue reform efforts

Source:http://www.philstar.com/nation/2016/01/08/1540534/deped-armm-continue-reform-efforts
Friday, January 8, 2016 2:41 pm

By John Unson (philstar.com)

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Education officials will continue this year their reform efforts meant to improve even more what was touted in the past as the most corrupt agency in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

John Magno, ARMM’s education secretary, on Friday said officials of the Department of Education (DepEd) in the autonomous region have had remarkable reform feats in 2015, among them the enlistment of duly licensed, proficient teachers and the removal from the agency’s payrolls of “ghost teachers.”

He said it was in 2015 when the DepEd-ARMM also achieved optimal breakthroughs in implementing education programs assisted by German and Australian benefactors.

The DepEd-ARMM hired close to 3,000 licensed teachers from late 2014 to middle of 2015 to hasten the regional government’s literacy thrusts in far-flung areas in the region.

The ARMM covers Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, both in mainland Mindanao, and the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

Magno on Wednesday presided over the DepEd-ARMM’s first executive committee conference in Cotabato City, where senior education officials discussed lengthily their reform programs for 2016.

“The meeting was very fruitful,” Magno said.

Magno and ARMM’s incumbent chief executive, Gov. Mujiv Hataman, are jointly overseeing the operation of DepEd-ARMM.

The present ARMM administration also had removed, in a cleansing process that started in 2012, hundreds of “ghost teachers” in the DepEd-ARMM’s old payrolls.

Magno said he and Hataman caught the ire of some small, recalcitrant groups for introducing reforms in the operations of DepEd-ARMM, but continued with their efforts to improve the agency’s operation just the same.

The DepEd-ARMM was notoriously known during the time of past governors as the most corrupt agency in the regional government, plagued with ghost teachers and non-existent schools that served as conduits for releases of regular operation funds from its coffer.

Many non-licensed teachers were taken in, before Hataman got to the helm of the regional government in December 2011, only because they were recommended by politicians.

Hataman first assumed as appointed caretaker of ARMM in December 2011 and was, subsequently, elected as the region’s eighth elected regional governor during the area’s May 13, 2013 polls.

DA to launch agri program to transform MILF camps into peaceful communities

Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=1&rid=843703
Thursday, January 7, 2016

(PNA), JMC/PR/SSC

SULTAN KUDARAT, MAGUINDANAO (PNA) -- Current and former agriculture secretaries will turn over initial agricultural equipment and materials to the farmers of six previously acknowledged Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) camps in Maguindanao and Lanao provinces Wednesday, Jan. 6.

Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala will lead the service presentation ceremony of the farmers’ assistance program with former DA Secretary and Philippine government (GPH) peace panel member Senen Bacani at the Bangsamoro Leadership Management Institute in Simuay, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao.

The program is an initial confidence-building measure under the Bangsamoro peace process with the end in view of transforming these areas into peaceful and productive communities.

The initiative was organized by the Task Force Camps Transformation (TFCT), in partnership with the DA-Farmer’s Assistance Program and is part of the normalization process stipulated under the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) signed between the MILF and the Philippine government.

Among the equipment and materials that will be turned over to farmers in the MILF-acknowledged communities are six units of heavy-duty 90HP farm tractor with complete accessories; six units of cassava grater; three units of hand tractor; 1200 bags of palay seeds and fertilizer; and 1200 bags of OPV corn seeds and fertilizer.

Also part of the assistance are planting materials such as 300 pieces of assorted rambutan, lanzones, jackfruit seedlings; and 300 pieces coffee, achuete, and guyabano seedlings. Eighteen carabaos will also be turned over for distribution to local farmers in conflict-affected areas.

In addition, certificates of commitment from the DA will be given during the event for the upcoming delivery of 16 units of non-motorized bancas; 160 units of fish traps or "baliyat"; 12 modules of goats (one module is composed of 4 female goats and one male goat); 18 heads of cattle; 6 units of corn sheller; 6 units of corn mill. Said equipment and farm animals will be turned over to local beneficiaries in a span of two to three months.

These areas are in the vicinity of former MILF Camp Abubakar as-Siddique, Camp Badre, and Camp Omar ibn al-Khattab in Maguindanao; Camp Rajamuda in North Cotabato and Maguindanao; Camp Bilal in Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur; and Camp Busrah Somiorang in Lanao del Sur.

Prominent individuals such as Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Governor Mujiv Sabbihi Hataman, ARMM Executive Secretary Laisa Alamia, Bangsamoro Development Agency Executive Director Mohammad Suib Yacob, Maguindanao 1st District Representative Bai Sanda Sema, and Maguindanao 2nd District Representative Zajid Mangundadatu were also invited to attend the event.

The event is expected to be joined by more or less 1,000 participants, including members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) and the farmer-beneficiaries.

The implementation of such confidence-building measures is undertaken through the Joint Task Forces mandated to help transform the MILF camps into peaceful and productive communities.

ARMM sees more investments coming in 2016

Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=843973
Wednesday, January 6, 2016

(PNA), LGI/NYP/EOF

COTABATO CITY, Jan. 6 (PNA) -- With a whooping PhP6.5 billion investment in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in 2015 as barometer, the ARMM's Regional Board of Investments (RBOI-ARMM) is expecting to draw more investments this year.

The agency is targeting to generate at least PhP900 million worth of investments and 900 new jobs in 2016, conservative figures considering what the regional government has achieved last year," according to Atty. Ishak Mastura, RBOI-ARMM chairperson

In 2015, RBOI-ARMM posted PhP6.5 billion worth of new projects, way over its original investments target of only PhP700 million.

Mastura said within January, RBOI is expecting to approve a PhP1.3 billion oil palm plantation in Maguindanao. If plans pushes, it could erase its target during the first quarter of 2016.

Mastura also announced new ventures in the region that included the PhP45 million industrial waste treatment facility in Polloc, Maguindanao and an PhP80 million water facility.

He said the region’s economic potentials -- rich in raw materials and an emerging market for goods and services -- have been generally overlooked by the business sector in previous decades but this has changed significantly in recent years.

Mastura said investors continue to put money in the region because of their trust in the good governance initiatives of the present ARMM administration.

He attributed the investors' confidence to the Mindanao peace process. Notably, he said, investments started coming in after the signing of the GPH and Moro Islamic Liberation Front peace agreement in 2014.

“2015 was the best year so far because the region has posted the highest value of investments in the 26-year history of ARMM,” Mastura said.

In 2015, RBOI recorded an increase of 70 percent in the total value of investments registered compared with Php3.867 billion in 2014. Likewise, 4,894 jobs were created, 43 percent higher compared with 3,433 new jobs registered in 2014.

In a statement, RBOI-ARMM said it approved eight major investment projects in 2015 led by Al-Sahar Agri Ventures Inc., a Cavendish banana plantation in Maguindanao with a PhP3.7 billion project. It was the largest single investment in the history of the ARMM.

Chan C. Mining Inc. also invested PhP742 million for a nickel ore project in Tawi-Tawi. Lamsan Power Corp., meanwhile, had a 5.5-megawatt power plant expansion project worth PhP687 million in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao.

Other investors in the region are:

Tawi-Tawian Petroleum Trading Corp. in Panglima Sugala. Tawi-Tawi;

DS3 Fuel Tanking and Services Inc., a petroleum project operating at Polloc Free Port, Parang, Maguindanao;

Maguindanao Enegry Farms Inc. based in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao for a 474 hectare-napier grass plantation;

Matling Industrial and Commercial Corp., a cassava starch milling plant in Malabang, Lanao del Sur; and

Southsea Industrial Energy Corp, an oil refinery project in Simunul, Tawi-Tawi.

Sixty-five percent, or PhP4.3 billion, of the combined value of the new projects approved by RBOI-ARMM in 2015 were agri-based while 24 percent, or PhP1.5 billion, were energy related. The rest, or PhP742 million, were on mining and quarrying.

DSWD-ARMM to resume payout of 4Ps cash grants

Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=843468
Tuesday, January 5, 2016

(PNA), BNB/NYP/EOF

COTABATO CITY, Jan. 5 (PNA) –- The Department of Social Welfare and Development in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (DSWD-ARMM) on Tuesday announced the resumption of payout of cash grants to beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) in Maguindanao after months of delay.

Rahima Datumanong Alba, DSWD-ARMM officer in charge, said DSWD-ARMM is not responsible for the unfortunate turn of events which led to the delay in the release of the said funds.

“The delay of the payment of grants for unpaid periods started when conduit Globe Exchange Inc. (GXI) failed to replenish the fund from the previous payouts to its merchant partner Loaded Marketing,” Alba said in a statement.

The suspension took effect in October last year.

Prior to this, DSWD-ARMM, through conduits GXI and Loaded Marketing, was paying Period 5 (September-October) and Period 6 (November-December) of 2014 as well as unpaid grants starting Period 6 of 2012.

Alba said the releases for Period 6, covering the months November-December in 2012 and for the same period in 2014 to 22 towns of Maguindanao, will start on Thursday.

Beneficiaries in the towns of Barira, Matanog, Parang, Datu Blah Sinsuat, Upi, Sultan Mastura, Sultan Kudarat, North Kabuntalan, South Upi, Mother Kabuntalan, and Datu Odin Sinsuat (Dinaig) in Maguindanao’s first district have been officially informed of the payout date.

Also expected to receive are 4Ps beneficiaries from the towns of Datu Hoffer, Shariff Saydona, Datu Unsay, Datu Saudi, Datu Piang, Datu Anggal Midtimbang, Guindulungan, Talayan, Talitay, Pagalungan, and Pagagawan all in Maugindanao’s second district.

Based on DSWD-ARMM data, GXI has previously released a total of PHP373,852,600 cash grants to 120,286 beneficiaries in Maguindanao.

The Land Bank of the Philippines remained to be the authorized disbursement agent of the DSWD for the nationwide distribution of cash grants. It also authorized money transfer agents to deliver the grants.

To ensure accountability and to ensure beneficiaries get what is due them, Alba reiterated that DSWD-ARMM agency continuously monitors the distribution of cash grants across the region.

The 4Ps is the national government’s flagship poverty alleviation initiative, providing grants to the poorest households in order to improve health, nutrition and education of children.

Each beneficiary receives PHP500 per month per household for health and nutrition expenses and PHP300 per child every month for educational expenses. Households with three qualified children would receive a monthly grant amounting to PHP1,400.

Foreign firm eyes Basilan for banana plantation

Source:http://thestandard.com.ph/news/-provinces/195903/foreign-firm-eyes-basilan-for-banana-plantation.html
Monday, January 4, 2016 12:01 am

By A. Perez Rimando

COTABATO CITY, Maguindanao—An international agricultural company is eyeing 5,000 hectares of land in Basilan for banana plantation.

Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Gov. Mujiv Hataman said John Paul C. Parrine, president of Unifruitti Group of Companies, told him that they were considering ARMM as an investment area after Parrine had personally visited a banana farming venture in Datu Paglas town.

This town became a model for development when its late mayor, Ebrahim Paglas, partnered with a multinational firm to develop some 1,000 hectares for a banana farm using rebel returnees as workers, Hataman said.

Parrine told Hataman last week that Basilan and other parts of the region have fertile lands suited for banana plantation which, if properly developed, could boost socio-economic growth and development.

ARMM Public Works Secretary Don Mustapha Loong noted that Parrine found it easy to invest in Muslim Mindanao and his company did not wait for the eventual setting up of the Bangsamoro entity to replace the ARMM as through the Bangsamoro Basic Law.

Basilan District Engineer Soler Undug said the recent completion of the Basilan circumferential road could play a key role in the realization of Parrine firm’s proposed project.

Parrine said he had partnered with the World Bank and the Department of Agriculture’s Mindanao Rural Development Program to develop his Basilan banana plantation project, adding his firm has also eyed Camp Iranon in Maguindanao as another area for banana plantation.

Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu said some 3,000 hectares of the camp are now being prepared for planting Cavendish banana to be bankrolled by the World Bank through MRDP.

Mindanao to experience brownouts – NGCP

Source:http://www.manilatimes.net/mindanao-to-experience-brownouts-ngcp/237572/
Sunday, January 3, 2016 9:15 pm

By JULMUNIR I. JANNARAL

COTABATO CITY, Maguindanao: The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) on Sunday declared a “yellow alert” as two government-owned hydropower plants in Lanao del Sur remain isolated from the Mindanao grid since the transmission towers were bombed on Christmas eve.

A yellow alert means there is a possibility of power deficiency and rotational brownout in the grid area, Melfrance Capulong, spokesperson of NGCP Southern Mindanao Capulong, explained.

The NGCP expects the supply situation to worsen starting today, Monday, when classes resume and employees in the government and private sectors return to work after the holidays, she added.

Capulong said the Agus 1 and Agus 2 hydro power plants remained disconnected from the grid as repair works on the steel towers have been hampered by a right-of-way issue. A Maranao resident and landowner of the facility site in Ramain town reportedly prevented NGCP field personnel from doing repairs until the government pays his right-of-way claim. The facility is located near Lanao Lake, adjacent to Marawi City.

Capulong pointed out that despite lower power consumption brought about by the cold weather and yearend holidays, the NGCP placed the Mindanao grid on alert level with the reserves falling below the required levels.

Based on the NGCP power outlook for Mindanao on Sunday, the island has 107 megawatts (MW) of reserves. But today, Jan. 4, the Mindanao grid will have only 24 MW of reserves.

Meanwhile, NGCP officials again appealed to the public, the local and national government, the police and military to help safeguard the steel towers to ensure that power transmission remains uninterrupted.

Similarly, the company also called on local community leaders to help identify the perpetrators of the bombings and negotiate with uncooperative landowners so that longer power interruptions may be avoided.

No perpetrator has been identified, arrested, or charged in court as far as the bombings carried are concerned. Likewise, no one has claimed responsibility for the acts of sabotage, although the lawless Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in the past has been suspected and reportedly admitted to have carried out the attacks. This time the BIFF has been silent on the matter.

4,000 spend New Year in evacuation camps in Maguindanao, S. Kudarat

Source:http://www.mindanews.com/top-stories/2016/01/02/4000-spend-new-year-in-evacuation-camps-in-maguindanao-s-kudarat/
Saturday, January 2, 2016 5:11 pm

By Ferdinandh B. Cabrera

COTABATO CITY (MindaNews / 2 Jan) – More than 4,000 evacuees from villages in Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat greeted the New Year inside gymnasiums that serve as evacuation camps after fleeing their homes since Christmas amid threats of more attacks from the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).

A resident of Barangay Kauran, Ampatuan town in Maguindanao who requested not to be named said most men in their village were armed during New Year’s Day, fearing threats from the BIFF. The BIFF launched simultaneous attacks just before New Year’s Day on detachments of the Army’s 601st Infantry Brigade in nearby in Shariff Aguak, Shariff Saydona and Datu Piang towns.

The BIFF also attacked a week earlier, killing six farmers during Christmas. They were still mourning their loss as the New Year came.

Around 702 families, mostly Ilonggo settlers and Teduray tribesfolk, have sought refuge at the Kauran gym.

Relief assistance

Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu visited the gym before New Year and distributed relief goods.

He also handed burial assistance to families of slain farmers amounting to P10,000 and a sack of rice. He arranged educational assistance for the children of those killed who were breadwinners of their respective families.

Mangudadatu said he wanted the children to avail of the province’s MagPeace scholarship program, which covers expenses for high school and college scholars.

The governor was emotional and teary-eyed when he met with widows and children in a short visit at the wake.

His brothers – Assemblyman Khadaffy, Mayor Freddie and businessman Jong – also extended financial assistance and joined him in the visit.

In Esperanza town in Sultan Kudarat, the local government unit has so far evacuated in the past days a total of 225 families, or more than 1,000 individuals, providing them shelter and safety in the local gymnasium.

Mayor Helen Latog said these residents live near the border of Maguindanao province that are also vulnerable to the attacks of BIFF.

Three residents from Esperanza were killed last Christmas at the height of the BIFF’s rampage.

Latog said the evacuees now stay at the gymnasium, but go to their farmlands in the morning to oversee their rice fields.

Mangudadatu, in his visit at the evacuation camps, said when he saw the pictures of those killed, these reminded him of what happened to his family in 2009 also in Ampatuan municipality. His first wife Genalyn, his two sister and relatives were among those killed in the Nov. 23 massacre wherein 58 people died, 32 of them media workers. The Ampatuan clan has been accused as responsible for the carnage.

He described the killers as “beasts,” asking, “How could they sleep at peace with what they did?”

In his speech in front of hundreds of families gathered inside the Kauran Gymnasium, Mangudadatu condemned the brutality brought by the BIFF.

He stressed that the issue is not a conflict between Moros and Christians settlers but purely the banditry and terrorism of the BIFF.

“The lands owned by the Ilonggos were bought by the owners in good faith. They have tittles. There is no land conflict here when I investigated. These BIFF rogues just wanted to sow terror,” the governor pointed out.

Appeal to MILF, to civilians

Mangudadatu has called the attention of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) hierarchy to help government stop the BIFF’s vicious attacks.

“I am appealing to the MILF leadership. They should help the government in running after the rogue elements,” the governor said, adding that the rebel group should help attain peace in all communities in the Bangsamoro.

But Jabib Guaibar, the MILF’s Local Monitoring Team representative in North Cotabato, said their hands are tied. “We have no mandate or authority to run after them (BIFF) unless we are now part of the government,” he said.

BIFF is a breakaway group from the MILF which did not join in the peace process. It rejects the MILF’s Bangsamoro Basic Law quest and instead opted to push of an independent Islamic State in Mindanao.

Mangudadatu appealed to the residents to refrain from further igniting the conflict by avenging the killing of their relatives.

“Let justice prevail. We are one with you in running after these people and filing charges against them. I am also a victim like you, but we did not put justice in our own hands. Instead we let the due course of justice to work”, appealed the governor.

Deploying more troops

The 6th Infantry Division has pledged to deploy more troops in areas where farmers are usually attacked by the BIFF.

The farmers’ main problem now is how to till their farms and harvest their produce.

Maj. Gen. Edmundo Pangilinan, in a meeting with local government officials in Mlang in North Cotabato, Ampatuan in Maguindanao, and Esperanza in Sultan Kudarat, recommended the deployment of additional troops in conflict zones.

“There is no letup in running against these demon BIFF rebels. We will provide more troops to areas where civilians are prone to attacks,” he said.

Exploring Lanao del Sur: 6 things the world is missing out on

Source:http://www.rappler.com/life-and-style/travel/ph-travel/117638-lanao-del-sur-travel-culture
Friday, January 1, 2016 3:45 pm

By Potpot Pinili (Rappler.com)

From its breathtaking views to its rich culture, Lanao del Sur has stories to tell

MANILA, Philippines – In a land where tourism is largely unheard of, I ask myself, “Is journeying to Lanao del Sur worth braving the unknown?”

We may be familiar with the dance called singkil, or images of minarets and women in veils. We easily associate the titles sultan and datu, or names like Abdul and Sittie, with the words Muslim or Lanao.

And then there’s conflict, chaos, and bizarre customs. The complex entanglements we know most about Lanao, especially the southern half of it, Lanao del Sur.

With all of the unpleasant stories around, what could the beautiful ones be, the ones that are left barely untold?

In a two-week journey, I combed the depths of Lanao del Sur in search of fascinating spots, unique art, and sensational flavors. Setting out in a real-life off-the-beaten path adventure, I found what wonders have been kept from the world, in a land that is caught in dramatic episodes of struggle.

Breathtaking panorama

Dating back to more than a million years, Lake Lanao is one of the world’s ancient lakes, yet very few people know about it. It is the heart of Lanao del Sur, and where the Maranaos adopted its name, as people of the lake.

Most images of Lake Lanao are taken from the golf course inside the Mindanao State University campus in Marawi City. But if you want to catch her most sweeping and stunning panorama, travel westward to the rolling hillocks of Watu or way south to the foggy summit of Binidayan.

A smaller but equally serene lake is Dapao, in the quiet town of Pualas. Often missed by those who traverse the Marawi-Cotabato route, this placid and myth-filled lake is a hidden spot that is perfect for a dreamy paddle.

Historical antiquities

Small as it may seem, Taraka is a huge part of the history of the once undivided Lanao. It was one of the catalysts of the Islamization of the Maranaos in the 16th century and home to Baab Ur-Rahman Masjid, the oldest mosque in the province.

Taraka is a treasure trove of heritage finds hardly any outsider has probably seen. In the Samporna-Tamano-Ayo-Sumpingan ancestral house are 3 huge Chinese stoneware jars called gusi or abdan. These tell us of their long trading relations with the Chinese people even before the Spaniards came to Lanao in 1891.

Interestingly, the house also kept a stone head called dibarosan, physical evidence of the existence of capital punishment during the ancient times.

Many homes all around Lanao del Sur are repositories of precious heirlooms such as carved chests, jars, jewelry, and handwoven textiles. But the most extensive collection of Maranao arts and crafts is curated at the Aga Khan Museum in Marawi.

Architectural marvels

Declared by the National Museum as a National Cultural Treasure, the torogan or the homes of Maranao royalties are living testaments of indigenous Philippine architecture.

The most popular and accessible is Dayawan Torogan in Marawi City. But farther south in Ganassi, Laguindab Torogan hides feeble and forgotten in a thick foliage. Despite its decaying condition, its surviving parts still scream of unrivaled craftsmanship. Such are its wood beams and posts that are meticulously carved with elaborate folk motifs called okir.

In the town of Binidayan, the Dimaporos have kept the only surviving lamin or a princess’ room. Sadly, it isn’t anymore perched on the roof of the torogan like in ancient times because the massive royal house is already gone.

If the mosques in Cotabato and Maguindanao boast of their grandness and bright colors, nothing comes closer to dramatic executions than those in Lanao del Sur.

Punctuating the bends of Lake Lanao, their mosques, like in Bacolod Grande and Raya Masjid in Balindong, showcase the grace of quintessential Islamic buildings hemmed by still waters.

But deeper into the town of Binidayan lies the theatrical solitude of a floating mosque on the islet of Polo near Maito-a-Balt Island.

Thriving traditional art

Tugaya is the Paete of Mindanao. But this art town is more than just about exquisite woodcarvings. It is also about foundry casting of brassware, back-strap loom weaving, hand-made tapestry stitching, and gold smithing. Nearly every home in this lakeside town has a craftsman whose skills and artistry are honed by time-honored traditions.

Unknown to many, the best weavers of the langkit or tapestry panels used in their most expensive garment called malong landap are found in Pualas. Here, the women still use the traditional back-strap weaving style in creating complex patterns that are uniquely Maranao.

Sensational flavors

When you come to Lanao del Sur, make sure you pack an appetite because their distinctive cuisine will take you on a gustatory spin like no other.

A typical Maranao dish is characterized by heavy use of coconut milk called tono and spices like turmeric or kalawag. Steamed freshwater fish and stewed chicken are staples interestingly served with yellow rice called kuning. But the star of any Maranao food fair is palapa, a condiment made of pounded scallion bulbs mixed with chili and coconut oil.

All of its culinary warfare comes to life during the Pagana Maranao, an extravagant banquet showcasing all of its homemade recipes decked in ornate table trays called tabak.

Proud, happy, hospitable Maranaos

Being hospitable is a trademark character of the Filipinos. And the Maranaos are among those that best represent this trait. They are sincerely warm and even lavish in hosting guests, especially when you are in their homeland.

Contrary to heartbreaking photographs that fill newspapers and fund campaign brochures, they are, in reality, a happy community, just like other communities that you'll find anywhere else in the country.

The Maranaos are the last to be Islamized among the Muslim groups but they are also the strongest defenders of its faith. Truth be told that many came to conquer them but no one ever succeeded.

Lanao del Sur’s royal-heavy society is marred by harrowing tales of generations of clan wars. Its rich tapestry of traditional arts and culture are torn by inescapable realities. Its people and faith are misunderstood. But behind all of these quandaries are also wonderful truths that are barely recognized by the world.

With all of its unalloyed beauty, refine culture, and caboodle of treasures, surely, I am glad to have braved the unknown.

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+==[[GPH-MNLF-OIC agree on joint communiqué]]==
+{{:GPH-MNLF-OIC agree on joint communiqué}}
+==[[Lanao del Sur town receives P3-M cash assistance]]==
+{{:Lanao del Sur town receives P3-M cash assistance}}
+==[[ARMM to train, empower more than 1,000 women leaders]]==
+{{:ARMM to train, empower more than 1,000 women leaders}}
+==[[Construction of PHP97-M emergency response operation center for ARMM underway]]==
+{{:Construction of PHP97-M emergency response operation center for ARMM underway}}
+==[[ARMM welcomes entry of Php1.3-B new investment]]==
+{{:ARMM welcomes entry of Php1.3-B new investment}}
+==[[Maguindanao’s agri-fishery  council undergoes I-REAP orientation]]==
+{{:Maguindanao’s agri-fishery  council undergoes I-REAP orientation}}
+==[[Maguindanao exec to lead medical mission on 1st year anniv of Mamasapano incident]]==
+{{:Maguindanao exec to lead medical mission on 1st year anniv of Mamasapano incident}}
+==[[A year after Mamasapano: 'Time heals all wounds' – ARMM gov]]==
+{{:A year after Mamasapano: 'Time heals all wounds' – ARMM gov}}
+==[[ARMM to issue new wage order for private workers]]==
+{{:ARMM to issue new wage order for private workers}}
+==[[PAMANA projects to benefit 2,000 villages in ARMM]]==
+{{:PAMANA projects to benefit 2,000 villages in ARMM}}
+==[[DSWD extends livelihood aid to ARMM indigent residents]]==
+{{:DSWD extends livelihood aid to ARMM indigent residents}}
+==[[ARMM modern emergency unit building to rise in Cotabato City]]==
+{{:ARMM modern emergency unit building to rise in Cotabato City}}
+==[[Diabetic, hypertensive ARMM residents get maintenance medicine from gov't]]==
+{{:Diabetic, hypertensive ARMM residents get maintenance medicine from gov't}}
+==[[RBOI-ARMM approves, welcomes 2016 with Php1.3-B oil palm investments]]==
+{{:RBOI-ARMM approves, welcomes 2016 with Php1.3-B oil palm investments}}
+==[[Malaysian business leaders to visit Cotabato City late January]]==
+{{:Malaysian business leaders to visit Cotabato City late January}}
+==[[ARMM starts another anti-poverty program]]==
+{{:ARMM starts another anti-poverty program}}
+==[[65,000 ARMM farmers, fisherfolks stand to get aid from agri office in 2016]]==
+{{:65,000 ARMM farmers, fisherfolks stand to get aid from agri office in 2016}}
+==[[ARMM traders favor proposed Islamic banking system]]==
+{{:ARMM traders favor proposed Islamic banking system}}
+==[[ARMM tourist arrivals up in 2015, officials sees more visitors in 2016]]==
+{{:ARMM tourist arrivals up in 2015, officials sees more visitors in 2016}}
+==[[Officials back stricter gun ban implementation in ARMM]]==
+{{:Officials back stricter gun ban implementation in ARMM}}
+==[[ARMM bans sardines fishing in Sulu Sea, Basilan Strait for 3 months]]==
+{{:ARMM bans sardines fishing in Sulu Sea, Basilan Strait for 3 months}}
 ==[[ARMM gets P10.1-billion budget for infrastructure]]==

Difference between revisions of "Autonomous Region Muslim Mindanao News January 2016"

Latest revision as of 03:54, 19 February 2016

Contents

GPH-MNLF-OIC agree on joint communiqué

Lanao del Sur town receives P3-M cash assistance

ARMM to train, empower more than 1,000 women leaders

Construction of PHP97-M emergency response operation center for ARMM underway

ARMM welcomes entry of Php1.3-B new investment

Maguindanao’s agri-fishery council undergoes I-REAP orientation

Maguindanao exec to lead medical mission on 1st year anniv of Mamasapano incident

A year after Mamasapano: 'Time heals all wounds' – ARMM gov

ARMM to issue new wage order for private workers

PAMANA projects to benefit 2,000 villages in ARMM

DSWD extends livelihood aid to ARMM indigent residents

ARMM modern emergency unit building to rise in Cotabato City

Diabetic, hypertensive ARMM residents get maintenance medicine from gov't

RBOI-ARMM approves, welcomes 2016 with Php1.3-B oil palm investments

Malaysian business leaders to visit Cotabato City late January

ARMM starts another anti-poverty program

65,000 ARMM farmers, fisherfolks stand to get aid from agri office in 2016

ARMM traders favor proposed Islamic banking system

ARMM tourist arrivals up in 2015, officials sees more visitors in 2016

Officials back stricter gun ban implementation in ARMM

ARMM bans sardines fishing in Sulu Sea, Basilan Strait for 3 months

ARMM gets P10.1-billion budget for infrastructure

MILF gets agricultural equipment, farm animals

DepEd-ARMM to continue reform efforts

DA to launch agri program to transform MILF camps into peaceful communities

ARMM sees more investments coming in 2016

DSWD-ARMM to resume payout of 4Ps cash grants

Foreign firm eyes Basilan for banana plantation

Mindanao to experience brownouts – NGCP

4,000 spend New Year in evacuation camps in Maguindanao, S. Kudarat

Exploring Lanao del Sur: 6 things the world is missing out on

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