Autonomous Region Muslim Mindanao News September 2014

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Autonomous Region Muslim Mindanao Archived News

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Seal of ARMM

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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.

ARMM gov't begins plan to transform port into economic zone

• Source: http://www.philstar.com/nation/2014/09/30/1374908/armm-govt-begins-plan-transform-port-economic-zone
• Tuesday, September 30, 2014 3:29 pm

By John Unson (philstar.com)

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines – The government has started negotiating the relocation of some 500 families occupying houses around the Polloc Port in Parang, Maguindanao in preparation for the facility’s rehabilitation and conversion into a regional economic zone.

Lawyer Mimbalawag Mangutara Jr., manager of the Regional Ports Management Authority (RPMA) of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), told community leaders in the illegal enclaves, during a dialogue on Monday, that they have a 10.9-hectare land where the settlers can be relocated.

The land was procured by the ARMM government for the settlers to have an area to move in to pave the way for the fencing and construction of more structures and facilities inside the premises of the Polloc Port.

“That parcel of land was purchased according to government accounting procedures to ensure that the settlers will have a good place where to dwell,” Mangutara said.

He said the ARMM’s chief executive, Gov. Mujiv Hataman, is keen on developing a relocation site with basic amenities, if funds will suffice, such as worship sites, a water system and a multi-purpose hall.

The local government unit of Parang also offered to help in the relocation of the illegal settlers.

Engineer Abdulwahab Tunga, provincial administrator of Maguindanao, also assured of the support of Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu in providing needed interventions to hasten the settlers’ relocation to the land the ARMM government offered.

Mangutara and Tunga both said the improvement of Polloc Port is needed to boost the economy of the province, where foreign and local investors have lately been coming in to put up viable multi-million agricultural investments.

“We need to upgrade this port for bigger shipping companies to come in and use it. We also have to make this port conducive to investments as a regional economic zone,” Mangutara said.

The Port Polloc, located at the western coast of Parang town, was established in the early 1980s and has never been upgraded since.

Three big shipping companies ferrying passengers from Maguindanao to Manila have long ceased operating in the province due to the poor condition of the Polloc Port.

“We have tranquility now as a result of the peace process involving the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, but peace alone cannot lure investors and shipping companies, we have to improve this port to become at par with ports in other areas in Mindanao,” Mangutara said.

He said the government has initially allocated P100 million for the rehabilitation of the Polloc Port.

Mangutara said he is optimistic the Mindanao Development Authority, chaired by Lualhati Antonino, will also extend assistance needed in the rehabilitation of the Polloc Port.

The Polloc Port is nearer to Maguindanao and North Cotabato towns, but traders in the two provinces ship their merchandise to Metro Manila and the Visayas via the ports in the faraway cities of Davao and General Santos due to its poor condition.

No ISIS in ARMM, says Gov. Hataman

• Source: http://www.interaksyon.com/article/96318/no-isis-in-armm-says-gov--hataman
• Monday, September 29, 2014 8:27 am

By Dennis Arcon (InterAksyon.com)

COTABATO CITY - No recruitment for the Islamic State group has been going on in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARRM), said regional Governor Mujiv Hataman in the face of reports that the jihadist group in Iraq and Syria is building its membership in the country.

He also said no movements of IS members in Basilan and Lanao del Sur have been monitored.

"Almost every week I was in Basilan when those reports came out. In fact I called the intelligence community in Basilan, the provincial director and even the battalion commander, they said they don’t know anything about it. Me, I’m sure that there is no ISIS in ARMM,” he said in mixed English and Filipino.

Hataman said ARMM authorities have not let their guard down so that no IS member may enter the region.

Earlier, ARMM police director Chief Superintendent Noel delos Reyes said there is no truth to the reports that the jihadist group that’s sowing terror in the Middle East beheading journalists and an aid worker has been recruiting in the island.

Delos Reyes said the reports are simply hearsay.

In a related development, Hataman became incensed over the activities of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and the Abu Sayyaf Group.

Their actions, he said, are not far from those of IS, including beheading of civilians, theft and robbery, and terrorizing.

Hataman said these actions, especially killing innocent civilians, are against the law and the Creator.

BIFF and ASG have earlier said they support the IS group.

ARMM, state college sign MOA for organic food production in Basilan

• Source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/641225/armm-state-college-sign-moa-for-organic-food-production-in-basilan
• Sunday, September 28, 2014 5:31 pm

By Charlie C. Señase (Inquirer Mindanao)

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – A state college and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) have signed a memorandum of agreement to provide livelihood, initially to Basilan farming folk, through “organic food” production currently in demand because of its health benefits.

The ARMM, through its HELPS (Health, Education, Livelihood, Peace and Synergy) program, agreed to bankroll P8.5 million for the business venture of producing organically grown fish, vegetables and farm animals with its partner the Aces Polytechnic College of Basilan. The two institutions signed the MOA last Saturday.

ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman, impressed by the organic food samples produced by the Basilan farming and fishing cooperatives, said, “They are not only nutritious but certified organic food that most people nowadays prefer.”

Dr. Francisco Dela Peña, APCB president, who signed the MOA with Hataman, has assured the products are 100 percent free of preservatives, anti-biotic ingredients, synthetic additives, and growth hormones.

Dela Peña said that with the ARMM-HELPS financial assistance, a business boom in halal food could happen.

Using Barangay Balas in Lamitan City as pilot site for the ARMM-HELPS-assisted project, Hataman said another P8.5 million has been earmarked for the construction of an organic feed mill processing plant and other facilities.

A three-hectare model farm might produce enough organic fish, poultry products, goat and other farm animals, said Anwar Upahm, ARMM-HELPS program manager.

Hataman vowed to spread the HELPS initiative to other ARMM provinces, saying some 100 different villages in the region would likely avail of it by 2015.

ARMM challenges India's world record in tree planting

• Source: http://www.philstar.com/nation/2014/09/26/1373458/armm-challenges-indias-world-record-tree-planting
• Friday, September 26, 2014 4:06 pm

By John Unson (philstar.com)

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines — Local officials, policemen, soldiers and Moro rebels on Friday planted thousands of forest and mangrove trees in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao to set a world record of having planted 4.6 million trees all together at one time.

Gov. Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu and ARMM’s natural resources secretary, Kahal Kedtag, led the planting of trees in four sites in the province as part of the Mindanao-wide "Treevolution: Greening MindaNow."

The project, initiated by the Mindanao Development Authority based in Davao City and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, was aimed at breaking India’s Guinness World Record on most trees planted by nationals in a single activity.

The rank-and-file personnel of different agencies under the ARMM government planted trees on idle lands in Pigcalagan area in Sultan Kudarat town in the first district of Maguindanao.

Local officials in the towns of Datu Odin Sinsuat and North Upi also led their constituents in planting thousands of forest trees in selected areas vulnerable to landslides and soil erosion due to occasional strong winds and heavy rains .

Thousands of rubber tree seedlings have also been planted by participants to the Treevolution activity along the road connecting a stretch of the Cotabato-Gen. Santos Highway to the scene of the infamous "Maguindanao Massacre" on Nov. 23, 2009.

“We decided to plant rubber trees to ensure that people residing in the surroundings will take care of them because if fully grown the trees can produce rubber latex that can be sold,” Mangudadatu told reporters.

Officials of the Maguindanao police office and the Army’s 601st Brigade joined Mangudadatu and employees of the provincial government in planting the rubber tree seedlings.

Rep. Ruby Sahali and her younger sibling, Gov. Nurbert Sahali, led the planting of more than 200,000 mangrove and forest trees in the island town of Panglima Sugala in Tawi-Tawi, a component province of ARMM.

"This is an experience of a lifetime," Sahali said.

Sahali said employees of the Tawi-Tawi provincial government and different agencies in the island province participated in the tree planting activity in Panglima Sugala.

Kedtag said he is confident that in the autonomous region alone, participants to the tree planting project managed to plant more or less a million trees.

"But we still have to validate all reports coming from the field. It's no joke attempting to set a world record," Kedtag said.

Kedtag said he is thankful to Hataman, Mangudadatu, the 6th Infantry Division and the ARMM’s regional police office for helping push the activity forward.

"I am also thanking the MILF for participating in the event," Kedtag said.

Thousands also joined the activity in five administrative regions in Mindanao.

ARMM, Davao college ink deal for P17-M chicken, fish propagation industries

• Source: http://www.philstar.com/nation/2014/09/27/1373838/armm-davao-college-ink-deal-p17-m-chicken-fish-propagation-industries
• Saturday, September 27, 2014 4:39 pm

By John Unson (philstar.com)

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - A technical school in Davao City and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) on Saturday crafted an agreement to put up a P17-million organic chicken and fish propagation industries involving Moro communities in Basilan.

The project is part of the ARMM’s Health-Education-Livelihood and Protection Synergy (HELPS) program, a diversified intervention thrust meant to address poverty and underdevelopment in far-flung areas.

ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman and Dr. Francisco Dela Peña Jr., president of the Aces Polytechnic College (APC) in Panabo District in Davao City, signed the agreement here past 1 p.m. Saturday in the presence of reporters.

The coordinator of ARMM-HELPS, Anwar Upham and Ibrahim Ballaho, chair of Barangay Balas in Lamitan City, where the APC and the ARMM are to put up the project, also affixed their signatures to the document.

Lamitan City is the capital of Basilan, one of the five component provinces of the autonomous region.

Some 50 residents of Lamitan City are now undergoing training on organic chicken and fish culture, including the propagation of bangus (milkfish) and red tilapias in brackish water using only organic feeds.

“Some of those to benefit from this project are ethnic Badjaos,” Hataman said.

Hataman said the project will include the construction of processing plants for culled chickens and cultured fishes.

The APC, which has demonstration farms, will also educate local fishermen on how to raise high-value ocean fish species in cages.

“Everything here will be organic. We shall train them how to produce organic chicken and fish feeds using only ingredients that are obtainable in the province, free from harmful ingredients such as animal fats and growth hormones,” Dela Peña said.

Dela Peña said organic chickens and fishes are good for the health and are, thus, more sellable than those raised with commercial feeds.

“Animal and fishes that are fed with natural foods are `halal,’ which Muslims can eat, having been fed with natural food free from contaminants that are forbidden in Islam,” Dela Peña said.

Farm products labeled halal, which is an Arabic term, are those which are palatable to Muslims.

The project also aims to train residents of Barangay Balas on how to breed fast-growing chickens using parent fowl stocks with western and oriental bloodlines that are good for meat and egg production.

ARMM’s ‘last’ budget of P24.3B the biggest in 26 years, says Hataman

• Source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/640656/armms-last-budget-of-p24-3b-the-biggest-in-26-years-says-hataman
• Thursday, September 25, 2014 5:23 pm

By Nash B. Maulana (Inquirer Mindanao)

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — The 2015 budget of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is its biggest allocation in its 26 years of existence, according to local officials.

said in a statement on Wednesday that the region has successfully defended its P24.299-billion budget for 2015. The budget was passed in anticipation of the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law, which would create the new Bangsamoro entity.

“Maguindanao and Cotabato City Representative Bai Sandra Sema sponsored the ARMM 2015 budget at the House Plenary, against the grilling of Bayan Muna Party-List Representative Carlos Isagani Zarate and Zamboanga City Congressman Celso Lobregat,” Hataman said.

He said the new budget was higher by 16.04 percent compared to the 2014 P20.4-billion budget, and was way higher than the 36.62 percent allotted to the ARMM in 2013.

Hataman said that when he assumed office as officer-in-charge in 2011, the regional budget was pegged at 11.1 billion. The fund, as in the years before that, was spent on salaries and other operating expenses.

Executive Secretary Laisa Alamia noted that the coming year posted an all-time high increase in the ARMM’s annual budget, now seen to be its last appropriation by Congress, with less than a year before the possible formation of the BTA.

Hataman said the 16-percent budget increase for ARMM would be spent on capability building for the incoming new entity that was expected to replace the ARMM aside from the usual obligation for salaries and maintenance and other operating expenditures.

Maguindanao lady mayor hunted

• Source: http://www.tempo.com.ph/2014/09/maguindanao-lady-mayor-hunted/
• Wednesday, September 24, 2014

(Tempo)

COTABATO CITY – Police launched a manhunt against the lady mayor of Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao, after a court here issued a warrant for her arrest in connection with a murder case.

Mayor Zahara Ampatuan has gone out of office for weeks now, prompting regional authorities to install Vice Mayor Marop Ampatuan as acting mayor on Sept. 17 pursuant to the provisions of the Local Government Code and a written imprimatur from the municipal council.

Chief Supt. Noel delos Reyes, police director for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, told media men over the weekend that undercover operatives started the search last Friday for the lady mayor.

The missing official is wife of former Shariff Aguak Mayor Anuar Ampatuan, one of detained main suspects in the infamous Nov. 23, 2009 massacre of 58 people including 32 journalists at Sitio Masalay, Barangay Salman in Ampatuan town.

A regional trial court here had earlier issued a warrant for Mayor Ampatuan’s arrest in connection with the April 3 murder of Alfredo Amelista, who was secretary of Shariff Aguak’s municipal council.

Two others, Kanurin Tayuan and Rambo Guiasalam, were also charged with murder along with the mayor.

The indictment of the lady mayor surprised many sectors, including some journalists in Maguindanao.

Meanwhile, Vice Mayor Ampatuan began functioning as acting mayor on Sept. 15, according to lawyer Anwar Malang, secretary of the ARMM’s Department of Interior and Local Government.

Malang clarified that the acting mayor cannot appoint or terminate subordinate-employees.

The vice mayor assured last Saturday over the Catholic-run station dxMS here that he will abide by rules governing his being caretaker and that he would give way to his mayor once cleared of the indictment.

ARMM's agri dept bats for Congress approval of P430-M budget

• Source: http://www.philstar.com/nation/2014/09/23/1372339/armms-agri-dept-bats-congress-approval-p430-m-budget
• Tuesday, September 23, 2014 4:55 pm

By John Unson (philstar.com)

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - The Agriculture Department of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is banking on its proposed P430 million budget for 2015 to sustain more projects needed to hasten the restoration of normalcy in conflict and calamity-stricken areas in ARMM’s five component provinces.

Congress is presently deliberating on the ARMM’s P25-billion budget for next year.

Makmod Mending Jr., regional secretary of the ARMM’s Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF), said P105 million from their P430-million 2015 budget is intended for maintenance and other operating expenses.

He said the remaining P230 million is earmarked for salaries of employees assigned in the regional office of DAF-ARMM and those in the provinces.

For most DAF-ARMM employees, their 2015 budget is still small if they are to maximize community interventions needed to hasten the recovery of peasant communities from conflicts and calamities.

Mending, however, said they just have to enforce stringent measures in the handling of state funds to ensure the continuity of socio-economic programs complementing the establishment before 2016 of a new Bangsamoro government to replace ARMM.

The creation of the Bangsamoro government through the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law, which is now in Congress, is part of a political deal stipulated in the March 27, 2014 peace accord between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Mending said they are thankful to two outfits of the United Nations (UN), the World Food Program and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Office, for continuously assisting the ARMM government in its agricultural programs for underdeveloped Moro communities in the region.

“We are now doing the necessary groundwork needed to prepare the Moro, Christian and lumad agricultural sectors for the coming in of the Bangsamoro government,” Mending said.

He said P10 billion of the ARMM’s proposed P25 billion 2015 budget is, in fact, intended for infrastructure projects designed to generate livelihood opportunities for rebels that will gradually decommission once the Bangsamoro government is in place.

DAF-ARMM is one of the ARMM’s five busiest and top performing agencies in the ARMM, which include the region’s public works, health, education and social welfare departments.

Sulu students take DOST scholarship exam

• Source: http://www.mindanaoexaminer.com/news.php?news_id=20140922074738
• Monday, September 22, 2014 8:47:38 pm

By Franzie Alih

SULU – Over 140 students took the college scholarship examination offered by the Department of Science and Technology in the southern Philippine province of Sulu.

The examination was held at the Sumadja Hall at the Provincial Capitol Building in Patikul town on September 21. Sulu Gov. Toto Tan also visited the students and bid them good luck before the start of the examination. “Scholarship exams for college conducted by DOST, sana maraming mag-qualify na taga-Sulu, Insha'Allah,” he said.

Among the scholarship privileges include tuition fee up to P10,000 per semester; book allowance of P10,000 per year; stipend of up to P5,000 per month; free economy-class round trip fare per year and group insurance. Scholar graduates of the program are also given top priority for job placement in government high schools.

The DOST has been advocating the importance of strengthening the country’s science and technology education, mathematics and engineering.

The examination was supervised by a team from DOST Central Office in Manila and Provincial Office in Jolo town headed by Armela Raza and Ayesha Amin.

Raza thanked Gov. Tan for his support to DOST programs and for provided a venue for the examination on engineering, mathematics and science. She said the Sumadja Hall - which is being used by the Provincial Government for important meetings and conferences - was very conducive for the conduct of the examination because of its seat and table arrangements, aside from being completely silent from outside noise.

Amin also briefed Gov. Tan on various DOST program and activities which the Chief Executive pledged to support in Sulu. Gov. Tan also thanked the DOST for the conduct of the examination in Sulu which greatly helped the students since they do not have to spend huge amount of money to travel to Zamboanga City for the examination.

Bangsamoro task: 715,228 illiterates

• Source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/639632/bangsamoro-task-715228-illiterates
• Sunday, September 21, 2014 7:00 am

By Vincent Cabreza (Inquirer Northern Luzon)

BAGUIO CITY—The process of building a Bangsamoro region has started in Congress, but literacy advocates on Friday said one of the government’s crucial problems in the transition from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) to a new region is an illiterate work force.

Investments are expected to flood Mindanao when peace is achieved, but entrepreneurs may end up getting workers from other provinces or regions because many adults in the ARMM still cannot read, write or count, said Amina Rasul Bernardo, managing trustee of Magbassa Kita Foundation Inc., during this year’s national literacy conference at Teachers’ Camp.

Citing a recent study by the foundation, Bernardo said 38 percent of ARMM’s voting population (or 715,288 of 1.88 million voters in 2010) are illiterate.

“If you are a businessman building a hotel, who will you hire? Will it be the illiterate natives or the literate workers from outside ARMM? Once Tagalogs, Ilonggos, Ilocanos and Cebuanos land jobs and benefit from a peace agreement that should be enjoyed by the local communities, would that improve our conflict situation or will it create another issue of conflict?” said Bernardo, who represented her mother, former Sen. Santanina Rasul, in the conference.

Bernardo said literacy champions have included education in priorities being drawn up for a Bangsamoro master plan. She said the Bangsamoro development plan has targeted 600,000 adults in ARMM for literacy training.

Bernardo said Mindanao educators are hopeful they would be able to teach functional literacy to these adults before the transition process begins.

“The business sector tells us peace is key to economic growth. But key to peace is business investments and development, which is why ARMM’s productivity is low and its poverty [incidence] is high. There is no peace, few investments, few businesses. It is a vicious cycle,” she said.

“But it is a chicken and egg situation,” Bernardo said.

“How can you have inclusive growth in the most conflict-plagued area of the Philippines if one third of your adult [population is] illiterate and cannot avail of the dividends of peace [such as] opportunities for employment [and] opportunities for increased income that will become available when the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law brings a surge of investors in the region?” she said.

Bernardo said government educators and nongovernment organizations could improve the literacy rate in ARMM provinces in three years.

Bernardo’s mother, former Senator Rasul, a teacher, had pioneered phono-syllabic teaching in the Philippines in the 1960s. This is an adult literacy teaching method which helps students recognize the alphabet by introducing the sound each letter makes when these are formed into words.

Bernardo said 63,751 adults in ARMM have graduated from literacy classes given by Magbassa Kita (which is Tausug for “Let us read”).

The foundation had also used the phono-syllabic process to introduce concepts like peace and autonomy to communities, she said.

Adults willing to sit for months in village assemblies to learn how to read, write and count, responded well when teachers used concepts like “peace” or “kapayapaan” in lessons.

“We introduced concepts like ‘human rights,’ and even ‘autonomy,’ although that was a hard concept to absorb,” Bernardo said.

She said many Filipinos assume that separatists characterize the peace and order crisis in Mindanao, when it is criminality and clan wars that define violence there.

Many of the graduates were women, Bernardo said, which comprise the highest volume of illiterates in Mindanao.

Many of these women are mothers who may impart lessons about peace and human rights to their children, she said.

The foundation’s graduates have also formed bonds, enabling the government to organize them into economic cooperatives or organizations, she said.

Bernardo said a survey of their former pupils has established that many pursued reading or counting lessons so they could vote properly, handle their financial transactions and avoid being duped, and to be able to send text messages instead of make expensive calls using their mobile telephones.

She said some ARMM beneficiaries of the government’s conditional cash transfer program complained of being shortchanged because they could not operate an automated teller machine (ATM).

Maguindanao MNLF men plants ‘bananas for peace’

• Source: http://zamboangatimes.ph/zamboangatimes/top-news/12396-maguindanao-mnlf-men-plants-bananas-for-peace.html
• Saturday, September 20, 2014 11:41

(PNA), CTB/TPGJR/UTB

Hundreds of former guerrillas on Thursday reaffirmed commitment to the Mindanao peace process as they launched their 500-hectare self-sustained community Cavendish banana farm project in Datu Odin Sinsuat town in the province.

The project, which involves members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), is Maguindanao’s first ever large-scale communal farming venture funded only with cooperative capital, without any support from foreign investors.

Datumama Guiaman, chair of the Barangay Bago Inged Multi-Purpose Cooperative, told reporters the members of the peasant communities in their largest enclave in Central Mindanao, Camp Ebrahim, will help each other put up the banana farm with seedlings from local donors.

Guiaman said what emboldened them to embark on their self-sustained farming project was their failure to avail of a capital loan from different banks for apparent lack of trust.

“It was so hurting not to be trusted like that. We decided to forge ahead with the help of our leader and his friends in the business community,” Guiaman said, referring to former Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema, chairman of the MNLF’s largest and most politically active faction.

Camp Ebrahim, scene of fierce military-MNLF clashes in the 1970s, is located in the southwest of Barangay Bago Inged, now a government-recognized “peace zone,” where former rebels thrive as farmers.

Thursday’s launching of the banana farm project was led by Sema and spouse, Sandra, who is incumbent Maguindanao first district congressional representative, and Chinese couple Leo and Rhea Lai, who are both engaged in Cavendish banana exportation business.

The event was capped off with the renewal by former rebels belonging to the MNLF-Sema group of their commitment to Malacañang’s peace overture with Moro sectors and to the peaceful resolution of misunderstandings on the implementation of their September 2, 1996 final peace pact with government.

The government-MNLF truce was brokered by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, a bloc of more than 50 Muslim states, including petroleum exporting countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

Entrepreneur Eduardo Dela Fuente, Jr., a trading consultant of the MNLF-led cooperative, said the Sema couple is now trying to establish contacts with banana buyers abroad through friends in OIC-member nations.

The MNLF’s top commander in Camp Ebrahim, Eddie Taup, who saw combat action during the 1970s, said Thursday’s ceremonial kickoff rite for their cooperative banana farming was also a manifestation of faith in their now 19-year truce with government.

“We will not plant bananas if there is no continuing tranquility in our surroundings. We in the MNLF-Sema group are not at war with our brothers in the MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front) so why worry? We have strong faith in the GPH-MNLF peace agreement too,” Taup said.

The MILF also has dozens of scattered enclaves in Maguindanao, which hosts the group’s main bastion, Camp Darapanan.

Taup, who has hundreds of armed followers, was among the first to condemn the brigand MNLF renegades involved in the siege of several coastal barangays in Zamboanga City in September 2013.

MNLF members in Central Mindanao, including the group of Datu Dima Ambil in North Cotabato, who also has more than a thousand armed followers, just calmly stayed in their camps while their misguided comrades loyal to Nur Misuari were pre-occupied with their deadly forays last year in Zamboanga City.

DOST turns over PH standard time clock to Sulu

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=686089
• Friday, September 19, 2014

(PNA), CTB/TPGJR/UTB

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Sept. 19 (PNA) -– The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) has turned over a Philippine Standard Time Clock to the provincial government of Sulu as part of the agency’s campaign to synchronize time in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and the rest of the country.

Sulu Vice-Gov. Abdusakur Tan said Friday they have displayed the digital clock at the provincial capitol building.

Tan received the clock on behalf of Sulu Gov. Abdusakur Tan, II. The DOST turned over the clock last Monday.

Tan said the province of Sulu is the first to receive the Philippine Standard Time (PST) clock.

The other ARMM provinces--Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao and Tawi-Tawi--will received the same clock later on, he said.

The distribution of the PST is in compliance with the Republic Act 10535 otherwise known as the Philippine Standard Time Act of 2013.

President Benigno Aquino, III signed R.A. 10535 into a law on May 15, 2013.

DOST’s PST campaign, dubbed as Juan Time (Pinoy Ako On Time Ako) is aimed to synchronize all timepieces in the country and promote the new definition of “Filipino Time” which is on time.

DILG-ARMM confirms assumption of Maguindanao town acting mayor

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=685505
• Thursday, September 18, 2014

(PNA), CTB/NYP/EOF

COTABATO CITY, Sept. 18 (PNA) – The Department of Interior and Local Government in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (DILG-ARMM) Thursday confirmed the assumption of Vice Mayor Marop Ampatuan of Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao.

“The DILG-ARMM now recognizes Vice Mayor Ampatuan as the acting mayor of Shariff Aguak,” Lawyer Anwar Malang, DILG-ARMM regional secretary, told DXMS Radyo Bida Cotabato Thursday morning.

Malang said his office was furnished a copy of the Shariff Aguak Sangguniang Bayan resolution declaring Mayor Sahara Upam-Ampatuan incapacitated for not reporting for work for more than three days.

“By operation of law, if the mayor is absent or incapacitated for more than three days, the vice mayor may assume as acting mayor,” he said, quoting the Local Government Code.

Malang explained that this provision of the local government code is anchored on the two principles.

First, if the elected mayor is absent for more than three days, and, second, even if the mayor is in town but cannot function, the vice mayor can assume in an acting capacity.

“Especially, if the town legislative council passed a resolution declaring the mayor is incapacitated,” Malang said.

He said the role of DILG-ARMM is “only to issue recognition.”

“This is all temporary. If Mayor Sahara Upam-Ampatuan officially informs the town council she can now perform her duties, she can re-assume and the vice mayor have to pave the way,” Malang said, adding that as acting mayor, Vice Mayor Ampatuan can only perform administrative works.

“He cannot hire or fire employees,” he said.

The DILG regional secretary also said his office has limited information as to why Mayor Sahara could not function.

“What we have is she is facing various charges, that’s only what we have,” he said.

Vice Mayor Marop assumed as acting Mayor on Tuesday.“We hope Shariff Aguak situation will be settled peacefully and will not resort to violence,” Malang said.

PNP-ARMM disaster team to compete in nationwide drill contest

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=685330
• Wednesday, September 17, 2014

(PNA), LAM/NYP/EOF

CAMP SK PENDATUN, Maguindanao, Sept. 17 (PNA) – As part of the building efforts to enhance the skills of police personnel in disaster preparedness, a team from the Philippine National Police in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (PNP-ARMM) will compete in the Disaster Preparedness and Response Drill competition in Davao City.

To be participated by PNP disaster teams from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, the event will be held in Camp Quintin M. Merecido, Buhangin District, Davao City on September 25.

Chief Supt. Noel Delos Reyes, ARMM police regional director, said an 8-man Search, Rescue and Retrieval Team (SSRT) from the Regional Public Safety Battalion of PRO-ARMM will showcase their skills and capabilities in terms of preparedness and response during disaster and calamities.

The competition aims to apply and enhance the acquired skills of the Search, Rescue and Retrieval Teams (SRR) and interoperability/camaraderie in preparation for possible actual deployment in search and rescue operations.

The competition will be clustered into three areas (Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao) and will be conducted in two phases.

PHASE 1 will be Elimination Round (Mindanao) which will be conducted on September 25, 2014 in Davao City and will be supervised by Police Director Danilo S. Constantino, Directorate for Police Community Relations, being the Chairman of the Sub-Committee on Disaster Management.

PHASE 2 will be the Final Competition to be held in Subic, Zambales on October 30, 2014 with representatives from Directorate for Police Community Relation (DPCR), Special Action Force (SAF), Maritime Group (MG), Office of Civil Defense (OCD), Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) and Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) to composed the panel of judges, while the Deputy Chief for Operation (TDCO) will be the Chairman.

Why ARMM students are smiling

• Source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/638201/why-armm-students-are-smiling
• Tuesday, September 16, 2014 12:01 am

By Evelyn D. Añago

Ask the Maguindanao teachers who have been trained under the Support for the Management of an Improved Learning Environment (SMILE) program if their students are any good and they will say, with conviction, that their students are as good as everyone else.

They say teachers do not have to see a rise in National Achievement Test (NAT) scores to know that their students are learning.

SMILE is a training-of-trainers program funded through the Basic Education Assistance for Mindanao (BEAM), a joint undertaking of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao’s (ARMM) Department of Education (DepEd) and the Australian Agency for International Development. The University of the Philippines National Institute for Science and Mathematics Education Development (UP NISMED) was commissioned to do the first-line training.

A total of 10,878 teachers have participated; in turn, they will train other teachers in science and mathematics.

“Maguindanao children are not stupid. Their intelligence just needs to be brought to the fore by their teachers,” says Rakma Duga, Grade 1 class adviser at Dalican Pilot Elementary School.

Duga and her colleagues say the teaching approaches they have learned from SMILE are helping them get their students to improve their academic performance. SMILE is a supplement to the DepEd’s K to 12 teacher training.

Thanks to the program, Apple Grace Cadion says she now teaches science using an inquiry-based approach. She is a first grade science teacher-trainer at Nuro Central Elementary School in Upi town, Maguindanao province.

For example, she starts a lesson by showing her students pictures and asking them what they see. She asks open-ended questions to encourage students to think and answer. She then asks them how they came up with their answers. The process allows the children to discover the lesson by themselves, she says.

“You’ll be surprised at how these young children can give such intelligent answers,” says Tarhata Tarapas, who is also a math teacher-trainer and head of Sarmiento South Elementary School in Parang town.

Besides the inquiry-based approach, SMILE has taught the teachers the problem-based approach to math as well as cooperative or group learning, practical work and multiple intelligence approaches.

In the past, teachers dwelt on theory and lacked analysis, says Tarapas. They used “the traditional multiple choice and fill-in-the-blanks approaches that require only memorization.”

Now, her students are thinking critically and communicating better. Both skills are among the 21st-century skills included in the DepEd’s Enhanced K to 12 Basic Education Program to prepare the youth for employment, entrepreneurship or higher education.

Demia Uko, teacher-trainer at Beto Primary School in Datu Odin Sinsuat town, says students in math are now asked to act out problem-solving operations with teaching manipulables for better comprehension. They use plastic cups on strings, for instance, to measure weight and size. They have magnets with which to count sets of ones and tens.

“They can’t seem to put down the devices, even after class,” says Cadion. By using tactile things and with practice, students get to understand math concepts better. “Where I live, the people who are good in math are those who work in the wet market because they get to practice it,” she says.

As teachers, they used to do all the talking, says Tarapas. “We gave all the instructions. Now, we are merely learning facilitators. No more spoon-feeding. We are less stressed and our students are less suffocated.”

The students are more eager to learn. “The Grade 3 teacher in the next classroom was surprised our class was so happy,” Taragas says.

Duga says, “We now have more freedom in our classrooms.” Teachers learn together with their students.

Uko, Cadion and Duga hope that eventually, all teachers in all grade levels would be trained in the SMILE approach.

Grade 8 science teacher-trainer Ferdinand Valdez from Parang National High School is hoping for more teaching materials. BEAM is responding with equipment for science laboratories, secondary school technical-vocational workshops and computer and language labs. It is also establishing school libraries and materials development centers in the region.

The ARMM teachers have high hopes that soon, their schools would no longer be “first from the bottom in NAT results.” And they have even higher hopes—to see their students grow up to be good and competent leaders of the new Bangsamoro.

PIA, DENR install LakasLikasan billboard in Turtle Islands

• Source: http://news.pia.gov.ph/index.php?article=2831410743044
• Monday, September 15, 2014

By Emmanuel D. Taghoy (FPG/EDT/PIA9-Zamboanga Sibugay)

TURTLE ISLANDS, Tawi-Tawi, Sept. 15 (PIA) – During its recent visit here on Sept. 5-10, the Philippine Information Agency (PIA)-9 in coordination with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has installed the LakasLikasan billboard, the first in Western Mindanao.

It bears the logo of “Karagatan,” as Turtle Islands municipality consists of seven small islands, which may be affected by seawater rise wrought by climate change. It also bears the thematic slogan “Nagbabago Na Ang Panahon, Panahon Na Para Magbago.”

LakasLikasan is the brand of PIA’s climate change advocacy campaign in partnership with the DENR.

“There is a big difference in us advocating climate change and the media announcing and reporting it,” DENR-9 Regional Director Arleigh J. Adorable said during the Zamboanga Peninsula regional launch of the Climate Change Advocacy Campaign last July 19 at the Sibugay Grand Plaza Hotel, Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay.

“This is the reason why,” he said, “the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) tapped the PIA as its partner to help promote the Climate Change Advocacy Campaign.”

Adorable disclosed that the DENR had been conducting various activities to advocate climate change years before its recent launch but he stressed that “with the media, the information sticks more in the mind of the people than the information drive done by our experts who seem to be more scientific in their presentation.”

The campaign is also designed to weaken public’s apathy to climate change and strengthen adaptation and mitigation measures as a response to it.

It also hopes to inspire and motivate active cooperation and participation, and foster partnerships with public and private communities involving the youth, academe, local government units and civic organizations, among others.

On the same occasion, PIA-9 conducted a climate change advocacy forum to more than 100 students of Turtle Islands National High School with some teachers and policemen.

2 freak tornadoes destroy 15 houses in Central Mindanao

• Source: http://zamboangatimes.ph/zamboangatimes/top-news/12310-2-freak-tornadoes-destroy-15-houses-in-central-mindanao.html
• Sunday, September 14, 2014 14:28

By John Unson (philstar.com)

Two freak tornadoes separately hit Maguindanao and Koronadal City villages Friday, damaging at least 15 houses, disaster agencies said.

In Parang, Maguindanao, a strong tornado swept through the coastal village of Magsaysay and destroyed business establishments along the coast, the Office of Civil Defense in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (OCD-ARMM) reported Saturday.

OCD-ARMM said the freak tornado smashed the coastal area of Barangay Magsaysay (Talipapa site), Parang, Maguindanao at 3:30 p.m. while moderate rains coupled with thunderstorm and lightning.

No casualty was reported.

At least eight houses were also damaged after a tornado hit a barangay in Koronadal City, Friday.

The tornado that struck the residential areas of Purok Masagana II in Barangay Zone III destroyed an estimated Php200,000 worth of properties.

Now homeless, Raymund Patricio recalled that holding his three-month-old child, he ran for safety along with his wife when strong wind blew off the roof of their house.

The City Social Welfare and Development Office is now assessing the damage to property to determine the amount of help each family will receive from the city government.

Nena Salafrancia, Social Welfare Assistant of CSWD Koronadal, said initial food assistance have been given to the affected families.

3 more multi-million businesses enter ARMM

• Source: http://www.philstar.com/business/2014/09/13/1368665/3-more-multi-million-businesses-enter-armm
• Saturday, September 13, 2014 3:23 pm

By John Unson (philstar.com)

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — The Regional Board of Investments (RBOI) accredited three more private companies to operate multi-million businesses in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

In a statement Friday, the RBOI-ARMM said the regional government recently gave imprimatur to the Darussalam Mining Corporation, the Al Mujahidun Agro-Resources and Development Inc. and the Bangsamoro Oil and Fuels Corporation to proceed with their operations in the region.

Lawyer Ishak Mastura, chairman of RBOI-ARMM, said the capitalists behind the three business entities seem to have confidence in the region's business climate, now improving as a result of the continuing Mindanao peace process.

The autonomous region, which covers Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, both in mainland Mindanao, and the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, generated P3.3 billion-worth of investments in the past 36 months, according to a RBOI-ARMM report last August.

ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman said investments upswing can be partly attributed to the reforms his administration introduced into the regional bureaucracy to stamp out corruption and inspire public confidence on the regional government.

"Add to that the absence of major conflicts in the ARMM in the past four years as a dividend of the government and MILF's bilateral peace efforts," Hataman said.

The Darussalam Mining Corporation in the island town of Languyan, Tawi-Tawi posted an initial capital input of P192 million for nickel mining explorations in the province.

The mining activities involve 310 skilled workers, said the RBOI-ARMM.

The Bangsamoro Oil and Fuels Corporation poured in P848 million capital for a petroleum exporting venture in the autonomous region. The firm has trading links with Malaysian petroleum exporting companies.

The Al Mujahidun Agro-Resources and Development, Inc. started establishing on July 30 an "all organic" 1,500-hectare Cavendish banana plantation in Barangay Masalay in Ampatuan municipality in Maguindanao.

Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu, who helped put up the multi-million Cavendish banana project, said foreign benefactors of the newly-established firm promised to construct a medical dispensary and an Islamic school in Ampatuan as part of its corporate social responsibility.

"The company will also establish diversified demonstration farms which local folks can duplicate in their communities," Mangudadatu said.

The banana firm has infused P570 million-worth of initial capital for the project, expected to employ more than 2,000 workers.

"We have conveniently exceeded by many folds our investment target this year which is only P700 million," said Mastura, who studied international petroleum trading laws in the United Kingdom.

Mastura said the RBOI-ARMM is thankful to Hataman for his extensive support to the investment attraction programs of the board and the regional government's trade and industry department.

ARMM tops P3-B investment in 3rd Quarter

• Source: http://news.pia.gov.ph/index.php?article=1611410468311
• Friday, September 12, 2014

By Danilo E. Doguiles (DEDoguiles-PIA 12)

COTABATO CITY, Sept. 12 (PIA) -- Investments in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) has reached P3.372 billion in the third quarter of 2014, according to a report from its Regional Board of Investments (RBOI).

ARMM-RBOI also noted that current investments are more than twice the total registered investments they received in the entire 2013.

In its meeting on Sunday, September 7, the joint Board of Governors’ and Management Committee of the RBOI approved for the registration of three firms with a total investment portfolio amounting to P848 million with potential jobs for at least 1,210 individuals.

These firms are Darussalam Mining Corporation, Al Mujahidun Agro-Resources and Development, Inc. and Bangsamoro Oil and Fuels Corporation.

Based in Tumbagaan, Languyan, Tawi-Tawi, Darussalam Mining Corporation is engaged in a P192.87- million mining and quarrying operation of nickel ore for export to China.

Meanwhile, Bangsamoro Oil and Fuels Corporation, which is engaged in importation, distribution and sales of petroleum products has poured in P85.85 million in the region. It is also set to construct an oil deppt at the Polloc Port in Parang, Maguindanao.

Al Mujahidun Agro-Resources and Development, Inc. is a new player in the region’s banana industry.

Recently, it planted 550 hectares of Cavendish banana in Barangay Salman in Ampatuan, Maguindanao as initial step to develop a total of 1,500 hectares of banana plantation in the area.

The company has infused P570 million in the said project. Based on the firms’ projections, annually the project could produce two million boxes of banana intended for export to United Arab Emirates, Middle East, and Europe.

ARMM –RBOI also disclosed that as of 3rd quarter this year, investments in the region has already generated 2,994 jobs, about 72 percent higher compared to jobs generated from investments last year.

“We have achieved our investment target for this year and we hope that we will continue to attract more businessmen to invest given our strong agri-based economy,” said RBOI Chairman and Managing Head, Atty. Ishak V. Mastura.

He added that the submission of the draft Bangsamor Basic Law to the Congress could mean positive signals to the business community that the peace process is on track.

"However, we are aware that any change in government or structural changes usually brings about a period of adjustment as the business community evaluates the impact of new policies,” he said.

“So this may mean that investment growth in 2015 could be affected. If impediments to doing business are reduced and if the security environment continues to improve, this could result to robust business and jobs creation in the region. ”

Meanwhile, ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman said that in the midst of the BBL discussions, the regional government will continue to promote open governance and transparency in the region and that will provide a conducive business environment to businessmen by offering fiscal incentives and technical assistance which is being granted by RBOI.

Bangsamoro autonomy eyes new areas outside ARMM

• Source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/637222/bangsamoro-autonomy-eyes-new-areas-outside-armm
• Thursday, September 11, 2014 6:24 pm

By Nash Maulana (Inquirer Mindanao)

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – The proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law will definitely redraw the political map of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and nearby areas because it aims to establish a larger area for Moro governance.

This was made clear this week by Prof. Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, chair of the government peace panel in negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), when she talked about the provisions in the draft BBL for the inclusion of areas from outside the ARMM.

Aside from the present-day geographical area of the ARMM, the process of “popular ratification” will also be held in “the municipalities of Baloi, Munai, Nunungan, Pantar, Tagoloan and Tangkal in the province of Lanao del Norte and (in) all other barangays in the Municipalities of Kabacan, Carmen, Aleosan, Pigkawayan, Pikit and Midsayap (that voted) for inclusion in the ARMM during the 2001 plebiscite; and the cities of Cotabato and Isabela,” she said during a forum here on Tuesday.

But Ferrer said the draft BBL has been given several distinct features that would make the envisioned Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE) distinct from the ARMM.

“Significantly, the proposed BBL provides that the Bangsamoro government shall be parliamentary in form. This would allow for a broader base of political representation and participation in governance. It would compel the formation of competitive and sustainable political parties in the region,” she said.

She said the BJE would “enjoy significant powers over and above the powers granted to the ARMM today, all on the basis of the powers given to autonomous regions in our Constitution, and the creative spaces or flexibilities found therein.”

Unlike the ARMM, which is dependent on the national government, the BJE will have fiscal autonomy through its revenue-generating powers.

With more powers and resources come more responsibilities, according to Ferrer.

“It is an opportunity that must be made available for the common good,

but also one that must not be squandered,” Ferrer added.

Meanwhile, civil society groups in Mindanao said they would engage in educational debates to ensure that the Bangsamoro Basic Law that Congress would pass would promote the interests of the stakeholders.

“We must be grateful and at the same time, vigilant against spoilers. May we ask the Muslim, Christian, and the indigenous people to engage in spirited discussions and debates,” Samira Gutoc of the People Development Initiative for the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro said.

“Amid our diversity, the Filipino people should be in one alliance for the success of the Bangsamoro accord, which will benefit all through the basic law. We look forward to reading the BBL and participate in its success,” said Datu Alexander Mama-o, president of the Filipino Alliance for Integrity and Reform (FAIR Movement-Philippines).

OWWA-ARMM scholarship examinees get free review

• Source: http://news.pia.gov.ph/index.php?article=2411410316134
• Wednesday, September 10, 2014

By Oliver Ross V. Rivera (ORVRivera-PIA12)

COTABATO CITY, Sept 10 (PIA) – The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration-ARMM is set to conduct free review sessions for its scholarship examinees.

OWWA-ARMM officer-in-charge Habib Malik said, the review is for the Education for Education for Development Scholarship Program (EDSP) and Congressional Migrant Workers Scholarship Program (CMWSP) applicants who will take OWWA’s qualifying examinations set on September 21.

“The review sessions aims to prepare the examinees and to increase the number of OWWA scholars in the autonomous region next school year, said Malik

“Through this review, we hope that more OFW dependents in ARMM will pass this year’s scholarship qualifying examinations,” Malik added.

Malik said some 200 examinees from the province of Maguindanao will have their review session on September 13 at Cotabato City State Polytechnic College audio-visual room.

“We will also conduct review classes for examinees from the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi through our provincial satellite offices and in partnership with DOST,” Malik added.

Malik added that there are designated testing centers all over the region, namely: Notre Dame University in Cotabato City,

Lamitan Central Elementary School in Lamitan, Basilan, Mindanao State University-Main Campus in Marawi City, Lanao Del Sur, Notre Dame of Jolo for Girls in Jolo, Sulu and Mindanao State University-TCTO in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi.

EDSP is a scholarship program offered to qualified dependents of active OWWA-member OFWs who intend to enroll in a four to five-year baccalaureate course in any CHED accredited college or university of their own choice, while CMWSP is for children of inactive OFWs not more than 21 years old.

DPWH to extend Tunggol bridge in Maguindanao to avert collapse

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=681519
• Monday, September 8, 2014

(PNA), FFC/NYP/EOF

COTABATO CITY Sept. 8 (PNA) –- The government’s public works office will extend the length of Tunggol bridge in Datu Montawal, Maguindanao to prevent the vital link of Cotabato and Davao City from falling, a ranking Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) official said Monday.

The DPWH-ARMM office is waiting the result assessment and design by the team he deployed to figure out the damages of the bridge.

“At least 170 to 210 meters will be extended, we will be constructing temporary detour bridge to continue the flow of transportation,” Sadain said. “That’s our proposal for now.”

Rep. Jesus Sacdalan of North Cotabato’s 1st congressional district, said repair works will soon start with motorists passing through the bridge one at a time.

“All vehicles should be moving one at a time, to avoid further damages to the bridge’s approaches,” Sacdalan said DXMS Radyo Bida.

Sacdalan said government engineers have quickly responded following reports the Tunggol Bridge was threatened by floods.

“Action has been taken, comprehensive final design to be submitted to DPHW Sec. Rogelio Singson,” Sacdalan said, adding that the national public works secretary tasked DPWH-12 Reynaldo Tamayo and DPWH National Usec. Romeo Momo to assess, draft design and submit report quickly.

Sadain said his office is considering P120 to P150 million budget for the extension and repair of Tunggol Bridge which, lately, had been showing cracks and damages on its approaches due to floods.

Earlier, DPWH-National Assistant Secretary Dimas Soguilon, during his meeting ARMM officials last week has assured DPWH will act urgently on the release for emergency fund.

Both Regional Governor Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and Maguindanao Governor Esmael Toto Mangudadatu have vocal concerns over the status of the bridge that connects ARMM to North Cotabato’s second district and Davao region.

Local residents here said they fear more than any one because they were the ones to be directly affected.

A mother, clutching her three-year-old son and identify herself as Sumayra, said it would be added cost daily for her because her children need to pay their way to school.

“Tatawid ang mga anak ko sa ilog, sasakay ng bangka, siyempre may bayad na, papunta at pabalik (In going to and from school, my children need to take banca that entails fare),” she said.

Village watchman Mautin Kudang, also of Barangay Tunggol and a pump boat owner-operator, said he had mixed reactions, that is, both happy and sad.

Happy because he will have additional income in ferrying the passengers and, sad, because definitely the prices of fuel and other basic commodities will rise as well, Kudang said.

The Datu Montawal municipal building is no stranger to floods, it being situated in a low-lying area and about 300 meters away from Tunggol Bridge.

Landslide victim thankful for gov't support

• Source: http://www.philstar.com/nation/2014/09/06/1366075/landslide-victim-thankful-govt-support
• Saturday, September 6, 2014 5:26 pm

By John Unson (philstar.com)

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - A peasant from Maguindanao whose daughter sustained a fractured leg when a landslide hit their shanty last week is delighted with the outpouring of support for the victim’s medication.

Winifredo Toniakao, of Barangay Blensong in North Upi town, on Saturday told The Star they now have adequate supply of medicines for her injured daughter, 4-year-old Reina Mae, who is still confined at the orthopedic section of the Cotabato Regional Medical Center (CRMC) in Cotabato City.

“Nagpapasalamat po ako sa mga tumulong sa amin,” an emotional Toniakao said.

The latest to extend assistance to the Toniakaos was Maguindanao First District Rep. Sandra Sema, who has a contingency fund deposited in the CRMC, intended for medical expenses of her indigent constituents.

Sema on Saturday said the CRMC’s finance department can deduct from the fund P5,000 to pay for the hospital bill of Reina Mae.

Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu said he had ordered the provincial government’s relief team, led by his budget staff, Lynette Estandarte, to attend to the needs of all flood and landslide victims in North Upi.

The governor’s office had earlier dispersed 50 bags of rice and other food provisions to affected North Upi residents, delivered by a group, accompanied by health workers who also facilitated free medical services.

Mangudadatu said employees of the provincial government have repacked into individual ration kits in the past two days more than 5 tons of food supplies for distribution to more than 20 flooded towns in the province.

The provincial board on Friday declared under state of calamity 26 of the 36 towns in the province as floodwaters spawned by heavy rains continued spreading through low-lying areas that are criss-crossed by rivers and dotted with swamps that connect to the 220,000-hectare Liguasan Delta.

The Humanitarian Emergency Assistance and Relief Team (HEART) of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao donated last Thursday P10,000 for the medicines of Toniakao through Shirley Salik, chief of the CRMC’s social welfare office.

ARMM officials and the mayor of North Upi, Ramon Piang Sr., had also collected donations for the construction of a low-cost core shelter for the Toniakao family.

Reina Mae’s twin sibling, Ranin, perished in the landslide, which was caused by heavy downpours two days before.

Ranin was buried alive when mud and rocks loosened by heavy rains cascaded from a nearby hill and covered their house, made only of bamboos and coconut palms.

PIA, DENR to launch Climate Change Advocacy Campaign in Tawi-Tawi

• Source: http://news.pia.gov.ph/index.php?article=1431409843052
• Friday, September 5, 2014

By Franklin P. Gumapon [ (FPG/PIA9)]

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Sept. 5 (PIA) – A group of personnel of the Philippine Information Agency (PIA)-9 and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)-9 will leave today for the province of Tawi-Tawi to formally launch the Climate Change Advocacy Campaign (CCAC) in this southernmost part of the country.

In a pre-departure meeting held here last night, it was learned that the Protected Area Management Board (PMAB) would also be holding a meeting at the Turtle Islands in Tawi-Tawi.

Aside from the CCAC launching, Mr. Cidur Julsadjiri of the DENR-9’s Protected Area and Wildlife Division (PAWD) said, a CCAC forum will also be also conducted to the students in Taganak Island.

Also joining the group to the Turtle Islands are representatives of the Biodiversity Management Office (BMO), Turtle Conservation Society of the Philippines (TCSP) and Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

A naval boat will take them from Bongao town, the capital of Tawi-Tawi province, to Taganak Island where a CCAC billboard will be erected. They will be back to Zamboanga City on Sept. 10.

BEAM-ARMM to give opportunities for TESDA certification to 15k OSYs, senior high school students

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=1&rid=680344
• Thursday, September 4, 2014

By Jade D. Miguel [(PNA), SCS/JDM]

MANILA, Sept. 4 (PNA) -- Located in the outskirts of Maguindanao province, Barangay Pilar is a far-flung area about two to three hours travel from Cotabato City.

During the rainy season, commuters need to go through a long stretch of dirt road to get to the remote barangay.

In spite of its distant location, however, Barangay Pilar has been reached by an educational program initiated by the Australian government in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

The program, called Basic Education Assistance for Muslim Mindanao (BEAM-ARMM), aims to provide opportunities for Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) certification to around 15,000 out-of-school youths (OSYs) and senior high school students.

The project has been coordinated by the Australian government with the Department of Education (DepEd) and TESDA.

A fourth-year high school student from Pilar Integrated Technical Vocational High School (PITVHS) in South Upi, Maguindanao, 17-year-old Judy Ann Lozada has expressed her gratitude as the program has been able to reach far-flung areas like their place.

"Our barangay is in a far-flung area, and yet the assistance from BEAM-ARMM has reached us," she said.

The BEAM-ARMM aims to assist students in remote areas to acquire TESDA certification through technical-vocation training. The program also provides students a potential source of income.

The program has chosen inaccessible areas as students in these places are said to be the ones who usually experience utmost difficulty in accessing training and certification.

The ARMM is also said to have high concentration of unemployed and underemployed youth.

"The main objective is to provide opportunities for acquiring certification right at the community level," said Corazon Magaute, DepED-ARMM Regional Technology and Livelihood Education Coordinator.

The target of 15,000 OSYs and senior high school students to be benefitted by the program are expected to be accomplished by June 2015.

The BEAM-ARMM is geared to provide with market-sensitive and inclusive technical-vocational education, training and skills development throughout the ARMM.

Magaute also said that the program provides a better accessibility to students as they would not go to farther places anymore just to acquire TESDA certificates.

"You won't have to go far just to earn TESDA certificates since you already have a tech-voc school in your municipality," she said.

Last Aug. 13, the BEAM-ARMM provided dressmaking tools and equipment to PITVHS which includes 25 units of household sewing machines, five units of high-speed sewing machines, flat irons, and other equipment.

PITVHS is one among the 23 senior high schools being given assistance by the program. The school hosts three diverse cultural groups: the indigenous T'duray peoples, the Muslim Maguindanaons, and the Christian settlers.

"The dressmaking tools and other equipment will make a huge impact on our youth," said South Upi Mayor Abdullah Campong, ensuring that the tri-people of South Upi will benefit from the program.

Campong added that PITVHS will soon become the center of the town's tech-voc programs and projects.

"Thanks to the Australian government, this project will further strengthen the ties of my people" he remarked.

Apart from the new goal of BEAM-ARMM to provide TESDA certifications to both OSYs and senior students, the Australian-funded program also delivers accessible learning facilities, quality teachers, learning materials, and a protective environment for children in need and out-of- school youths.

Being identified as the flagship of the Australian aid program in the country, education has been the primary focus of Australia which has been the Philippines' long-standing development partner and largest bilateral grant donor for education.

Australia also supports the government in its K to 12 education reform program and other high-impact education projects.

JICA, DAP launch workplace improvement program in ARMM

• Source: http://www.philstar.com/nation/2014/09/03/1364974/jica-dap-launch-workplace-improvement-program-armm
• Wednesday, September 3, 2014 1:36 pm

By John Unson (philstar.com)

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Hundreds joined Tuesday’s symbolic launching of the “5s program” to ensure the orderliness of all offices in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

The 5s means seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu and shitzuke, which mean sort, systematize, sweep, standardize, and self-discipline, respectively, in Nihongo.

The ceremonial application of the 5s program in the autonomous region was led by ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman and representatives from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP).

The 5s program was pioneered in Japan, whose citizens are known for their cleanliness, orderliness, resilience and discipline in maintaining wellness in their workplaces and homes.

The DAP and JICA are both helping the Hataman administration carry out its comprehensive reform agenda intended to improve the regional government, known in the past as hotbed of corruption and where thousands of “ghost employees” were listed in old payrolls.

Secretaries of different line agencies and support offices under the Office of the Regional Governor, touted as “Little Malacañang” of the autonomous region, and their subordinates helped each other clean their offices and disposed off everything that are not needed to maximize the utilization of spaces in their respective workplaces.

The ARMM’s Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, which has the largest office compound inside the 32-hectare regional government center in Cotabato City, had the most number of employees that joined in Tuesday’s 5s launching program.

Kadiguia Rakman Abdullah, DAF’s regional information chief, said their regional secretary, Makmod Mending Jr., led them in cleaning and rearranging all offices under the department in compliance with the ORG’s 5s implementation directive.

“Now we can see and feel the good effect of this program. We ought to practice this even in our homes,” Abdullah said.

A team comprised of 5s experts had earlier rated as “5s compliant” the office of John Magno, assistant regional education secretary for operations, even before the regional government could launch the program in all ARMM departments and support offices.

OWWA-ARMM holds computer training for Maguindanao OFWs

• Source: http://news.pia.gov.ph/index.php?article=2411409630608
• Tuesday, September 2, 2014

By Oliver Ross V. Rivera (ORVRivera-PIA12)

COTABATO CITY, Sept 2 (PIA) – Some 35 members of OFW Family Circles (OFC) from the province of Maguindanao participate in a computer assembly and basic troubleshooting training courtesy of OWWA-ARMM.

OWWA-ARMM OIC Habib Malik said the capacity building training aims to upgrade the skills of former OFWs as a means to boost their employability here in the country and abroad.

“The OFWs and their families can use the skills they learned during the training to apply for a job or start their own business,” Malik said.

Through this activity, OWWA is able to equip OFWs in the region with much needed trainings to improve their skills and competencies and in a simple way help them in enhancing their livelihoods or add to their income, he added.

Malik also said they have invited trainers from TESDA-ARMM to equip the participants with much needed skills in computer repair and troubleshooting.

The module coverage include history and uses of computer, PC overview, types of connectors, parts of computer, occupational health and safety procedures, installing windows xp, installing windows 7, basic problems of computers and basic troubleshooting.

After their graduation, the participants will be given a kit containing star and flat screw drivers, installer of windows xp, windows 7 and other programs including Microsoft Office, and anti-virus.

The training dubbed as “OFWs aangat sa pagsulong ng bagong teknolohiya” is held at the AlNor Hotel and convention center will be until Thursday, September 4.

Australia's BEAM turns over dressmaking tools to Maguindanao upland town

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=678973
• Monday, September 1, 2014

(PNA), LAM/NYP/EOF

COTABATO CITY, Sept. 1 (PNA) -– A remote public high school in the mountain town of Maguindanao has received tools and equipment for dressmaking as education aid to pupils, officials said Monday.

The equipment were handed over by the Australian Government through the Basic Education Assistance for Muslim Mindanao (BEAM-ARMM) and implemented through DepED-ARMM, to Pilar Integrated Technical Vocational High School (PITVHS) in South Upi, Maguindanao.

The tools and equipment included 25 units of household manual sewing machines, five units of high speed sewing machines, flat irons, among others.

Judy Ann Lozada, 17, a fourth-year high school student at PITVHS, was thrilled when she learned about the assistance to their school.

“Malayo ang barangay namin sa kabihasnan pero nakarating dito sa amin ang tulong mula sa BEAM-ARMM (Our barangay lags behind in terms of development and remote yet BEAM-ARMM found us),” she said.

Barangay Pilar is located in the outskirts of Maguindanao province, about three hours away from Cotabato City.

While a provincial road passes through the barangay, commuters must traverse a long stretch of dirt road in and out of the area which worsens travel during rainy season.

“We are so grateful,” the obviously excited Losada said, showing her eagerness to hone her skills in dressmaking and tailoring.

DepED-ARMM Regional Technology and Livelihood Education Coordinator Corazon Maguate, who was also at the handover program, stressed that the Technology Vocational (Techvoc) program’s main objective in South Upi was to provide its high school students the opportunity to acquire a TESDA National Certificate (NC) at the community level.

“You don’t need to go to Cotabato City or somewhere else just to earn TESDA certificates since you already have a Techvoc school in your municipality,” said Maguate.

PITVHS is one of 23 senior high schools assisted through improved curricula and increased competence of teachers.

Barangay Pilar in South Upi, Maguindanao is host to three major tribal groups: the T’duray, the indigenous people of the area; the Maguindanaons or the Moro group; and the Christian-settlers.

South Upi Mayor Abdullah Campong said during the handover ceremony that the dressmaking tools and equipment “will make a huge impact on their youth.”

“I will ensure that the tri-people of South Upi will benefit from this program,” he said, adding that PITVHS will become the center of the town’s Techvoc programs and projects.

Campong said the tri-people of the town live harmoniously.

“Thanks to the Australian Government, this project will further strengthen the ties of my people,” he said.

Through June 2015, BEAM-ARMM is providing 15,000 OSYs and senior high school students with market sensitive and inclusive technical vocational education, training and skills throughout ARMM where there are high concentrations of unemployed and underemployed youth.

BEAM-ARMM is a comprehensive education and youth development program that enables children and youth in Muslim Mindanao to develop and reach their potential.

The Program delivers accessible and healthy learning facilities, quality teachers, learning materials, and a protective environment for children in need and out of school youth, through effective, transparent and accountable management systems.

The Program contributes to the alleviation of poverty in ARMM and, in the longer term, to the emergence of sustainable peace through closely targeted investments in basic education that prepare ARMM to engage productively with economic opportunities.