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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:
  1. 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.
  2. The victims who are waiting for the right moment to retaliate. They can’t win yet, so they tolerate.

OFW Family Day celebration in Buluan, Maguindanao to be held this week

(ORVRivera-PIA12)

COTABATO CITY, Dec 9 (PIA) – Over 1500 Overseas Filipino Workers and their families are expected to attend the OFW Family Day Celebration in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

This year, the OFW Family Day in ARMM will be held at BBGM Buluan, Maguindanao on December 12, 2013.

According to OWWA-ARMM OIC Habib Malik, they have prepared a fun-filled program for the whole day activity.

The participants will be composed of OFW Family Circles from different parts of Maguindanao.

These includes the Mindanao Sustainable Association for Development, Quipolot OFW Association, Midconding OFW Kalilintad Organization, OFW Magungaya Farmers Organization, Tonggol OFW Maguyaga Organization, Lapok OFW Association, and United Bangsamoro OFW Association.

Participants will have the chance to win different prizes like grocery items, kitchen wares and surprise items courtesy of OWWA and other sponsors.

Further, Globe Telecoms will also set-up a one-stop hub to offer Libreng Tawag to OFWs and their relatives.

Among the guests of honor are Maguindanao Governor Esmael Mangudadatu, DOLE-ARMM Sec. Muslimin Jakilan and Buluan Mayor Lorena Mangudadatu are also expected to grace the event.

This year’s OFW Family Day has the theme “Hawak-kamay sa mithiing tagumpay at asenso ng Pamilyang OFW.”

OFW Family Day is an annual celebration of the OWWA aimed at providing avenue for OFWs and their families to spend quality time, strengthen family ties and values and develop camaraderie among OFW communities. It is also OWWA’s way of thanking our modern day heroes for their invaluable contribution in boosting up our economy.


GPH-MILF nego on Power-Sharing: only one issue left to resolve

By Carolyn O. Arguillas (MindaNews)

KUALA LUMPUR (MindaNews / 08 December) — The government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) peace panels were supposed to have ended talks here on Saturday but agreed to extend it by another day to try to hammer out an agreement on “Bangsamoro waters,” the last contentious issue that needs to be resolved so they could sign the Annex on Power-Sharing.

Both panels are pressed to finish negotiations on the Annexes on Power-sharing and Normalization, the last two annexes to the October 15, 2012 Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) that would complete the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and pave the way for the creation of the “Bangsamoro,” a new autonomous political entity that would replace the 23-year old Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) by 30 June 2016, the same day the Aquino administration bows out of office.

Counting from December 8, 2013, the parties have only 30 months or 935 days left to June 30, 2016.

Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Quintos-Deles, Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda and ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman have been attending the negotiations since Saturday, with Danilo Augsto Francia, Defense Assistant Secretary for Plans and Programs.

“Substantial progress has been made on both annexes,” Deles told MindaNews Saturday night.

Deles and Lacierda were present in July when the Annex on Wealth-Sharing was signed but Lacierda left for Manila prior to the signing. He told MindaNews Saturday night that he was staying on for the Sunday session.

ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman described the mood during the negotiations on Saturday as “light.” He said many were cracking jokes but he could see both panels had the drive to find ways to resolve the issues.

The MILF also brought in three senior members of its Central Committee. Jun Mantawil, head of the MILF peace panel secretariat identified them as Khalifa Nando, Zainoden Bato and Abo Ubaida Pacasem.

When the talks on the Annex on Wealth-Sharing were coming to an end on July 12 and 13, MILF chair Al Haj Murad Ebrahim convened the Central Committee in the conference room of the MILF Peace Panel office in Camp Darapanan, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao, “so there will be fast and effective consultation process” with its peace panel in Kuala Lumpur.

He assured civil society leaders in a dialogue at the same conference room on July 25 that the Central Committee will help fast-track the peace negotiations.

“We are always ready for whatever is necessary in the peace process because … we are all fully supportive.. we are fully sold out (to) this peace process and everybody is supportive. So we can always do the same and even more than that if necessary, as the situation dictates,” Murad said.

“Most likely”

Government peace panel chair Miriam Coronel-Ferrer told MindaNews Sunday morning that the panels will be discussing the power-sharing annex and normalization annexes “the whole day.”

She expressed optimism the Power-Sharing annex would be signed Sunday. “Most likely,” she said, but added she wants to be cautious just like in a Pacquiao boxing fight: “big chance but not 100%.”

“There is much progress today,” MILF peace panel chair Mohagher Iqbal said of the negotiations on Saturday.

Both Ferrer and Iqbal confirmed that Bangsamoro waters is the remaining issue to resolve in the Power-sharing annex.

“Revisit,” “Refine”

“Yes, only one remains to be resolved, Bangsamoro waters. But government wants to revisit five issues, which we the MILF did not agree to discuss in the plenary session,” Iqbal said.

Ferrer refered to the “five issues” as “refinements” to “clean up the text” of the power-sharing annex.

This round of talks was scheduled for December 4 to 7 but formally opened on December 5 upon the request of the GPH panel. The technical working groups on Normalization, however, met on December 4.

Under the FAB, the parties committed to work on the Annexes on Power-Sharing, Wealth-Sharing, Transitional Arrangements and Modalities, and Normalization, to “complete the comprehensive agreement by the end of the year.”

The signing of the comprehensive peace agreement, already set back by a year, is a major step in the 15-step Roadmap to the Bangsamoro” that both parties had agreed to.

The panels are still on Step 5 with the Bangsamoro Transition Commission drafting the Bangsamoro Basic Law but cannot proceed further because the Annexes on Power-Sharing and Normalization, equally important in the crafting of the Basic Law, have yet to be finished.

From 8 to 5 to 3 to 1

Iqbal on November 30 told MindaNews the panels are “on the final stretch on the Annex on Power-sharing as five of the remaining eight issues had been resolved in the executive session held on November 21 in Kuala Lumpur.

He said the five issues settled by the panels were “ancestral domain and natural resources, ancestral land and agrarian structure, Indigenous Peoples’ rights, land management distribution and reclassification, and all other powers not stated in the FAB and other annexes that are relevant to the FAB to be transferred to the Bangsamoro.”

The parties have yet to divulge the final text of the resolved issues.

Iqbal said the three issues that were to be settled in the December talks were: Bangsamoro waters, transportation and communication, and electoral system suitable to ministerial form of governance.

The issue on transportation and communication was settled on December 5.

MindaNews sources said the issue was resolved with both parties “agreeing on principles and letting the Basic Law allocate the appropriate powers for Bangsamoro Government and Central Government.”

The issue on electoral system was resolved by lifting the text from the FAB.

Stuck on waters

The panels are stuck on how to resolve the issue on Bangsamoro waters although sources told MindaNews that government on Friday proposed a “creative” way of moving ahead by signing the Annex on Power-Sharing with a provision that the panels would craft an addendum to both annexes on power-sharing and wealth-sharing, on the Bangsamoro waters.

The MILF as of Saturday night, however, appeared lukewarm to the idea of signing the power-sharing annex without resolving the Bangsamoro waters issue.

The issue involves what the Iqbal refers to as “political contiguity and connectivity.

MindaNews sources said one of the formulations offered is for the Bangsamoro waters to be defined as an area up to 22 kilometers from the shoreline or seven kilometers more than municipal waters.

Another suggestion was to have a zone or area of cooperation deal with the issue of waters on the Moro Gulf and the Sulu Sea. For example, within the Moro Gulf are areas that are not part of the proposed core territory of the future Bangsamoro while the Sulu Sea, although part of the Bangsamoro, is Philippine territory even as Sulu claims ancestral domain over the Sulu Sea.

The issue on shares from oil and gas explorations in the Sulu Sea is also being discussed, with proposals of 60-40 sharing in favor of the Central Government, while another proposal is on royalty payment.

Weather stations put up in ARMM

By Charlie Señase (Inquirer Mindanao, Philippine Daily Inquirer)

COTABATO CITY— The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) now hosts 26 automated weather stations that can help forecast storms so that more lives can be saved during natural disasters, a ranking ARMM official said.

Myra Alih, secretary of the Department of Science and Technology in the ARMM, said 10 more weather stations would be installed in the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Tawi-Tawi, Basilan and Sulu in the coming days, as the region had been identified as a pilot area in Mindanao for Project NOAH (Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards).

Alih said Project NOAH was officially launched in the five-province region on Monday, with the turnover of the 26 weather stations.

Alih said the weather stations were equipped with advanced devices that could detect wind velocity and direction, and rainfall level.

Alih said the stations would be used to gather data to project storm paths and strengths, and for long-term research studies, particularly on climate change.

ARMM awards 9 infra projects to bidders

By John Unson (philstar.com)

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - The bidding process for nine new infrastructure projects worth P363 million has helped the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao saved money.

The contracts for the projects --- reblocking of damaged portions of highways in Maguindanao, concreting of roads in the second district of the province, and construction of roads and seaports and a water system in Basilan --- were awarded to winning bidders last November 29.

Hadji Emil Sadain, regional public works secretary of ARMM, said the bidding process for the nine projects, made open to the media and representatives of different civil society organizations in the autonomous region, resulted in savings worth P520,000.

Sadain said they will seek clearance from the national government to spend the savings either for other projects, or for the procurement of engineering equipment.

Sadain said the program of works and all tranches of funds to contractors implementing the nine projects will be open to media scrutiny.

The ARMM’s Department of Public Works and Highways, whose coffer is being managed jointly by Sadain, Gov. Mujiv Hataman, and auditors from the Commission on Audit, earlier saved P136 million from unspent project funds it received from the national government from early 2012 to middle of 2013. Nation ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1

Hataman's office, the Office of the Regional Governor, exercises ministerial control over more than a dozen line agencies devolved by the national government, and more than 20 other support offices.

The P136 million the DPWH had earlier saved was spent, with permission from COA and the Department of Budget and Management, for the procurement of road building and maintenance equipment for the district engineering offices in the autonomous region.

The autonomous region covers Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, which are both in mainland Mindanao, the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, and the cities of Lamitan and Marawi.

ARMM strengthens output, program info campaigns

(Daily Zamboanga Times)

Information officers of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao’s (ARMM) line agencies will intensify the dissemination of the region’s accomplishments complementing the southern peace process, officials said.

Amir Mawallil, executive director of the ARMM’s Bureau of Public Information, said their objective is to educate local folks that good governance — as a vehicle to achieve socio-economic growth and political stability in the region — can only be possible with public support and cooperation.

ARMM officials are keen on turning over, between 2015 to early 2016, to the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front a reformed regional government and its accomplished projects, as a prelude to the region’s replacement with a new, MILF-led Bangsamoro political entity.

“Only by way of making the people understand the relevance of good governance, through effective dissemination of the ARMM’s reform initiatives and accomplishments, to peace-building in Moro communities will they realize that participatory governance is so important in nation-building,” Mawallil said.

He said the autonomous region will, in fact, upgrade its communication strategies to maximize the dissemination to the public of its accomplishments and in keeping with Gov. Mujiv Hataman’s policy of transparency and accountability in managing the affairs of the regional government.

“This means revitalizing the communication strategies since the old, traditional strategies of communicating with the ARMM’s mixed Muslim, Christian and highland communities may no longer be usable, or viable,” Mawallil said.

More than 50 information officers from different support offices and line agencies under the Office of the Regional Governor, touted as “ARMM’s Little Malacanang,” held last week in Davao City an “effective communications” workshop as an initial step to expanding the dissemination of the activities of the regional government.

The workshop delved on issues and concerns besetting the information thrusts of the ARMM and how modernization and the so-called “cyber age” brought in more convenient and readily available mediums that can connect the regional government to its constituents, communication-wise.

Mawallil said Kael de Lara Co, Malacanang’s undersecretary for communications, was among the speakers who provided participants vital insights during the workshop sessions in Davao City, which was bankrolled by the office of Hataman.

Amihilda Sangcopan, Hataman’s chief-of-staff, said they have been trying their best to be as prompt as they can in dispersing information about the activities of the regional government.

Sangcopan said Hataman has a standing directive to all regional secretaries and chiefs of different support offices to keep open all of their fiscal records to the public and the media in keeping with his administration’s policy of transparency and accountability.

Consultations on Bangsamoro Basic Law kick off in Lanao del Norte, Iligan

(InterAksyon.com)

ILIGAN CITY, Philippines -- Major public consultations on the Bangsamoro Basic Law kick off Wednesday in Lanao del Norte, parallel to the meeting of the peace panels of government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in Kuala Lumpur.

The peace panels meet in a bid to iron out the details on power sharing and normalization that are preventing them from clinching a comprehensive peace accord more than a year after inking a landmark preliminary pact.

The first consultations will take place in two clusters covering at least four of the province’s 22 towns on December 4 with former Iligan City mayor Franklin Quijano serving as one of the facilitators.

All the towns plus Iligan City will hopefully be covered by December 7, said Gimaidee Ann Cadotdot of the Pailig Academy for Grassroots Democracy, secretariat of the Lanao del Norte consultations.

The civil society-led consultations in Lanao del Norte are part of a Mindanao-wide effort to solicit inputs from grassroots communities regarding the charter of the future Bangsamoro self-governance entity that will replace the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

This is covered by a memorandum of agreement between the Bangsamoro Transition Commission, which has been tasked by President Benigno Aquino III to draft the Basic Law, and at least 40 nongovernmental organizations and networks. Primarily, these consultations will take place in every legislative district of the provinces of the ARMM and provinces that have localities that can potentially become part of the Bangsamoro.

Thematic consultations, like those among indigenous people, women and youth, are also planned.

The 22 towns of Lanao del Norte have been grouped into 10 clusters while the 44 barangays of Iligan City constitute another cluster.

Some 100 participants will be convened per cluster.

The results of these consultations will be forwarded to the BTC as well as the government and MILF peace panels, said Cadotdot.

“We have especially targeted grassroots leaders because we believe that the effort to improve the Moro autonomy setup must redound to the greater benefit of the ordinary Bangsamoro,” Cadotdot stressed.

More than 30 local civil society organizations are participating in the consultation, which is supported by the GIZ Civil Peace Service program, Cadotdot added.

“We aim that the conduct of this democratic exercise provides a hopeful contrast amid the historical backdrop of Lanao del Norte being a key trigger for war in the 1970s, 2000 and 2008,” explained Quijano.

The Moro autonomy experiment began in 1977, founded on the 1976 Tripoli Agreement of Peace inked between government and the Moro National Liberation Front.

Consultations on its design were first done in 1987 through the Mindanao Regional Consultative Commission, which drafted the original Organic Act of the ARMM.

But much of these consultations, according to Mindanao historian and MRCC member Rudy Rodil, never went down to the grassroots. The effort to involve grassroots leaders in designing Moro autonomy is therefore the first in its 36-year history.

DPWH sets aside P194 million for Cotabato major bridge rehab

(PNA), PDS/NYP/EOF

COTABATO CITY, Dec. 3 (PNA) --The Department of Public Works and Highways in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (DPWH-ARMM) has set aside P194 million for the rehabilitation of Quirino Bridge that connects Cotabato City to North Cotabato and other provinces in Mindanao.

Quirino bridge, constructed by Americans 50 years ago, has been dilapidated and its steel beams are corroded.

Its load capacity had been reduced to only 2.5 tons last week and starting this week, only four-wheeled vehicles will be allowed to pass to avoid accident and tragedy, according to DPWH officials.

National DPWH assistant secretary and concurrent DPWH-ARMM regional secretary Emil Sadain, the P194 million will be used to completely rehabilitate the bridge.

"We need to destroy the old bridge and replace it with new and more modern one," Sadain told reporters.

DPWH-12 engineers who conducted the assessment and study on the strength of the bridge has recommended the closure of Quirino Bridge but due to unavailability of alternate route, it recommended the reduction of load capacity.

Sadain said it will take six to eight months to complete the demolition and construction of the bridge.

By next year, the East-West circumferential road in the city will be completed by mid-year of 2014 and it will serve as alternate route.

The East-West road is part of the Mindanao Road Improvement Project (MIRP) under the administration of President Aquino.

Human Rights Day fun run raises funds for IDPs, typhoon victims

By Apipa P. Bagumbaran (APB/PIA-10)

MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur, Dec. 2 (PIA) --- The green light is on for the staging of the human rights day fun run in Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) slated this coming December 10 here in the city.

The fun run dubbed “Run for Your Rights” aims to help internally-displaced person (IDPs) in Zamboanga and survivors of typhoon Yolanda in Visayas, said Atty. Abdel Jamal R. Disangcopan, head of the Provincial Field Office of Regional Human Rights Commission (RHRC) in today’s airing of “Ozor ka, Ranao!” radio program.

“One hundred percent of the proceeds from the activity we will donate to the IDPs in Zamboanga and typhoon victims in Visayas,” he said.

Disangcopan said three categories are available in fun run, the 3K, 5K and 10K, plus a walkathon for those not interested to run but would like to participate for the cause.

Registration fee is the same for all categories, P300 for adult and P250 for students. This is inclusive of the singlet and race kits.

Disangcopan said they also give discounts for those registering as groups like a fee of only P800 for a family of four or P1,200 for friends of five.

Those who do not want to have a singlet can register for only P100.

Interested participants may sign up either at the RHRC Provincial Office located at the Provincial Capitol Compound or Mindanao State University (MSU) College of Public Administration, Philippine Muslim Teachers College, Lake Lanao College, and Jamiatu Muslim Mindanao.

Registration is until Saturday, December 7.

The starting point of the run is at KM0.00 in Amai Pakpak at 4:30 in the morning.

Disangcopan said the event which is in line with the International Human Rights Day celebration is also a venue to promote human rights.

Aside from helping the IDPs and typhoon victims, he said participants can also learn more about human rights through lectures and hand-outs that will be given away during the event.

They can also have picture-taking in a human rights booth and sign a commitment for human rights protection, he added.

Meanwhile, RHRC gave assurance on the safety and security of those joining the fun run.

Disangcopan said they have secured the necessary permit and have coordinated with the provincial and city governments as well as the local police for the staging of the fun run.

“Ozor ka, Ranao!” is a one-hour radio program of Philippine Information Agency and Philippine Broadcasting Service that aims to provide people with information and updates on various efforts to bring development and prosperity in the province. It is being aired live over DxSO Radyo ng Bayan Marawi, 8am to 9am, every first and third Monday of the month.

ARMM has room for 2,640 more teachers

By Antonio P. Rimando (Correspondent)

COTABATO CITY—Acute shortage of public school teachers has long plagued the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), adversely affecting the delivery of quality basic education in the area as evidenced by its consistent low performance in the annual National Achievement Test (NAT) conducted by the Department of Education’s (DepEd) National Educational Testing and Research Center (NETRC).

DepEd records showed that since the NAT was introduced eight school years ago, the ARMM usually ranked the lowest among the agency’s 16 regions.

ARMM Regional Education Secretary Kamar Kulayan said the region’s poor academic achievement is expected to ease soon after Muslim Mindanao was alloted this school year by the DepEd central office with a total of 2,649 new teacher items.

Kulayan said a teacher allocation report his office received in September from the Office of Education Secretary Armin A. Luistro said the new mentor positions are broken down into 120 for kindergarten; 1,374 for elementary; and 1,155 for secondary schools.

He said the teacher items were proportionately distributed to ARMM’s 14 schools division (SD) with Lanao del Sur I receiving the lion’s share with 514 positions followed by the Tawi-Tawi and Maguindanao I which were given 475 and 429 positions, respectively.

The other Muslim Mindanao SD and their respective teacher allotments, Kulayan said, are Lanao del Sur II with 389 tutor posts; Lanao del Sur I-A, 273; Maguindanao II, 267; Lanao del Sur l-B, 241; Lanao del Sur II-B, 214; Lanao del Sur II-A, 174; Sulu II, 144; Marawi City, 121; Basilan, 112, and Lamitan City, 24.

Kulayan said Luistro empowered the concerned SD superintendents in the region to recruit and appoint qualified teacher applicants following DepEd’s hiring rules and regulations which stress the merit and ranking system.

The education chief also enjoined appointing field school executives to comply with the DepEd localization law which stipulates that an applicant who is a resident of a certain barangay or municipality which needs an additional mentor should be given priority over another nonlocal applicant.

Kulayan said Luistro also required qualified applicants for high school should possess the necessary major or specialized subject needed by the secondary school concerned.

For instance, Luistro said, if the school requires a new mentor who is a major in physics or chemistry, then the new mentor should be a specialist in physics or chemistry; otherwise, he argued, if someone who is a major in English or Filipino is taken to handle the subject, the nonspecialist tutor would become a square peg in a round hole to the academic prejudice of their students.

P362M infra projects up in ARMM

By Ali G. Macabalang

COTABATO CITY – Nine new infrastructure projects worth P362.8 millon are set for construction this month in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), a Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) official announced Friday as he assured to finish the concreting of the entire 992-kilometer highway network in the region by next year.

ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman signed here on Nov. 26 with the four construction firms that won the bidding for the nine projects which amounted P362.8 million, DPWH Regional Secretary Emil Sadain told the Bulletin.

Sadain said FFJJ Construction was awarded the concrete re-blocking of segments of the Marbel-Ala-Cotabato and Cotabato-Lanao/Davao highways (P38.7 million); concreting of a portion of Paglas-Columbio (Maguindanao-Sultan Kudarat) road (P52.1 million); and concreting of Maslabeng road in Buluan, Maguindanao (P58.2M million.

Two projects were awarded to the ESR Construction and Supplies, namely: The construction of road from Bato-Bato Port-Al-Barka-Haili Ginata-Magkawa [Phase I] and port construction along Bato-Bato, both in Basilan, (P87.3 million), he said.

The ASAP General Trading Construction and Maintenance won two projects worth a total of P53.4 million involving the construction of water system level III in Sumisip, Basilan and the concreting of one kilometer Bitayan-Basakportion segment (phase III) of portion Sumisip, Basilian circumferential road, he added.

The other projects worth P14.5 million went to the joint firms of the RAIN Construction Enterprises and Apple Construction. The project involves the construction of steel bridges along the coastal roads of Buli-Buli-Tekos, Basak-Babag, and on a barangay road, all in Sumisip, Basilan, Sadain said.

Among the five ARMM provinces, Lanao del Sur excelled in road projects implementation, the regional DPWH office said, citing the close supervision of field works by Gov. Mamintal Adiong Jr., who is a civil engineer by profession.

ARMM has a total of 992 kilometers of national highways. More than 750 kilometers of which have been paved and will be continued to be concreted by the end of 2014, said Sadain.

Owing to the regional DPWH office’s feats in administrative and operational reforms in last two years, the Aquino government increased ARMM’s annual infrastructure capital outlay from P1 billion in past decades to P5.2 billion for 2014, an unprecedented leap in the region’s history.

In the second half of 2012 and first semester of this year, the agency has posted close to P200 million savings in fiscal operations, notably in road maintenance and bidding processes.

Mayor leads tree-planting in Lamitan barangays

By John Unson (philstar.com)

COTABATO CITY, Philippines --- Local officials and public school pupils, mostly ethnic Yakans, planted on Thursday more than 2,000 mahogany seedlings in open fields in two barangays in Lamitan City.

The activity, led by Lamitan City Mayor Rose Furigay, was part of the city government’s environment protection goals and the observance by the local communities of November 2013 as the National Environmental Awareness Month.

Furigay, along with barangay leaders and hundreds of pupils from elementary schools in Barangays Bulingan and Bohe Yakan, planted the mahogany seedlings in areas that are also vulnerable to floods.

Furigay, in an emailed statement, also thanked the police and military units in Lamitan City, the capital of Basilan, for helping put up the tree-planting activity in the two barangays.

The mayor said the office of the city agriculturist provided them enough mahogany seedlings for the project.

The activity also involved members of the city council, led by Vice Mayor Roderick Furigay, and representatives of local media organizations, among them Richard Falcatan, a reporter of the Radio Mindanao Network covering the island province of Basilan.

Billion-peso halal hub to rise in Mindanao

By Genivi Factao

KUALA Lumpur —The Halal International Chamber of Commerce and Industries of the Philippines Inc. (HICCIP) has unveiled plans to put up a billion-peso halal hub in Mindanao.

Halal Chamber President and Chief Executive Officer Ustadz Alexander Sultan said the chamber has joined the International Trade (Intrade) exhibition in Malaysia to source halal products and eventually set up a halal supermarket in the Philippines.

“Halal is a very clean food. Halal is a million-dollar industry in the Philippines and has potential for exports in the Asian and Middle East markets,” he said at Intrade exhibition held at Menara Matrade in Kuala Lumpur.

“The HICCIP plans to put up Halal Business Park in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao [ARMM], where we can have a halal supermarket and produce our own halal.… It’s going to be a halal zone,” he added.

“We want to help the economy through exports. We can have purely halal chicken that can be exported to other countries. We can export our halal products to the Middle East and the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) because we are free from bird flu,” he added. The HICCIP’s member-companies are based in Baguio, Metro Manila, General Santos, Cebu and Marawi City.

They are looking for a 10-hectare land in the ARMM for the halal site, which entails about P1 billion in investments. HICCIP is just waiting for the approval of the National Commission on Muslim Filipino for its certification.

“Our application as halal-certifying body was approved in principle, and we hope to get the certification before the year ends,” he added.

HICCIP is promoting halal business and social service, as well as helping the country to grow tourist arrivals from Muslim countries.

“When tourists come in, they want to eat halal and, unfortunately, there’s only a few halal food in the Philippines,” he said.

Founded on March 16, 2013, HICCIP aims to promote the proliferation of halal entrepreneurship and industries through education and information campaign. The small and medium enterprises engaged in the distribution of halal products saw a growing interest of the Philippine market in Malaysia’s halal food.

Anthony B. Rivera, Malaysia External Trade Development Corp. Philippines marketing manager, said several representatives from the Philippines have already been to Malaysia for the certification requirements in the development of halal food.

“The relevant parties are also working hand in hand with Jakim for the halal-certification issue for the Philippines. Once all the conditions have been met and the goods are certified, Malaysia welcomes the entry of these in the market,” he added.

Food is the fifth top export of Malaysia to the Philippines with a 21-percent share and total value of $212 million in 2012.

On the other hand, food is the third top import of Malaysia from the Philippines with a share of 4 percent and total value of $92 million last year.

Veggie gardens in ARMM schools pushed

By John Unson (philstar.com)

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - The United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) and the executive branch of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) started implementing on Tuesday a joint food sufficiency program in public schools in Maguindanao.

Makmod Mending, Jr., ARMM’s regional agriculture secretary, said the program, 'Gulayan sa mga Paaralan sa Probinsiya ng Maguindanao,' also involves the office of the region’s education secretary, Jamar Kulayan.

“This project aims to address the problem of malnutrition among children in different towns in Maguindanao,” Mending said.

Mending said ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman and a representative of the WFP’s office in Mindanao, Arland Bernido, signed last week a memorandum of understanding outlining the details of the project, to be implemented in 108 selected schools in Maguindanao.

Mending and Kulayan also signed on the document.

Mending said employees of the ARMM’s Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, and the Department of Education are now coordinating with the 108 schools, imparting on teachers and principals the modalities of the project.

Mending said the DAF-ARMM has started providing the beneficiary schools with vegetables seeds, gardening tools and other farm implements needed in putting up gardens inside campuses.

The WFP, which has been operating in Maguindanao for several years now, will supply rice to families of school children in the 108 public schools.

Mending said his office had released the garden tools intended for the 108 schools through the two schools division offices in Maguindanao.

Foreign traders come to Maguindanao as peace talks near completion

(PNA), LAP/NYP/EOF

KIDAPAWAN CITY, Nov. 26 (PNA) -- With peace expected to soon reign in Maguindanao as a result of the ongoing peace process between the government and Moro rebels, foreign investors also started to come to the province, officials said Tuesday.

Foreign investors will start propagating Cavendish bananas in January next year in undeveloped yet natural-rich vast track of lands in Maguindanao, a few kilometers from the site of the 2009 Maguindanao massacre.

According to Makmod Mending, Jr., regional secretary of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, the ARMM is supporting the venture.

Maguindanao Governor Esmael Toto Mangudadatu said his invitation was welcomed and accepted by a Malaysian-Costa Rican fruit company Univex.

In Janauary, the Univex and its local partner, the Al-Mujahidon, will put up the banana plantation.

Costa Rican businessman Gonzalo Hernandez, who met with Mangudadatu and other provincial officials over the weekend, said his firm would like to help create job in the province with the belief that when people are employed and have decent livelihood, they do not commit crimes.

Muslim religious leader Abdulwahid Sumaoang and businessmen Edward Bullicer were representatives of Al-Mujahidon.

Seeing employment opportunities for Maguindanao residents and economic improvement in the ARMM, Regional Governor Mujiv Hataman has immediately directed line agencies to extend necessary assistance in the establishment of the banana plantation in Ampatuan, Maguindanao.

“We appreciate the efforts of provincial leadership in Maguindanao in bringing in foreign investors and providing employment opportunities,” Mending said.

"We see more investors coming in with the government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front peace process nearing completion," Mending said.

“We really appreciate the support of Mangudadatu administration, the local sectors and government line agencies," Bullicer said.

Maguindanao is not new to Cavendish banana venture. About a decade ago, the first foreign investment on banana came to Datu Paglas, Maguindanao pioneered by Arab, Italian and Israeli traders in partnership.

ARMM relief teams aid Muslim affected families in Tacloban

(PNA), CTB/PTR/NYP/EOF

KIDAPAWAN CITY, Nov. 25 (PNA) -- The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) relief arm has served about 50 Muslim families affected by typhoon Yolanda in Tacloban City, ARMM officials said.

The Humanitarian Emergency Assistance and Relief Team (HEART)of the ARMM has provided medical and rehabilitation support to the displaced Muslim families, mostly from ARMM provinces.

They were among thousands of people in Tacloban that HEART had served during its relief mission in Tacloban City and nearby municipalities in Leyte.

Beneficiaries received food packs comprised of rice, canned sardines, instant noodles, and assorted medicines for various ailments.

Aside from food packs, the team also shared non-relief goods such as sleeping mats, and other provisions to the dislocated Muslim families.

About 30 truckloads of relief supplies were distributed by ARMM to Leyte and Tacloban City in response to President Aquino's call for humanitarian missions in affected areas.

Ahsmha Sulayman, who hails from Lanao del Sur, lauded the ARMM relief team because the presence of ARMM workers and volunteers made them felt they were home.

ARMM to showcase unity and culture in its 24th anniversary

By Ayunan G. Gunting

Unity and culture will take center stage in this year’s celebration of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao’s (ARMM) 24th founding anniversary.

ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman said various cultural shows will be conducted during the month-long celebration of the ARMM’s 24th founding anniversary to depict the unique cultural identities of the region’s Moro and non-Muslim indigenous groups.

Hataman stressed the importance of these cultural shows during their festivities as they will highlight the peculiarities of the region’s local communities, which despite having different traditions and cultures, are bound by Islam as a common religion.

“The region’s non-Muslim indigenous groups are also related to us. There is no separation, except for religious identities. We are one because we only have one community before the dawn of Islam in this part of the country. One people, one voice, one direction—unity, peace and prosperity,” Hataman said.

The month-long celebration has already kicked off last November 7 with a parade of traditional attires made from hand-woven fabrics, Float and Cultural parade. The Lanao Del Sur float won with its concept of the Sultanate in a Torogan.

The Sultan and his Radiamoda surrounded by their Bai a Labi and Moro Warriors, wearing authentic Maranao costumes. The Basilan float placed second.

Gov. Hataman wore traditional Yakan clothes, and his deputy, Vice-Gov. Haroun Al-Rashid Lucman, Jr. led the employees of different regional departments in Thursday’s kickoff ceremony for the anniversary feast.

Hataman hails from Sumisip town in Basilan, while Lucman is an ethnic Maranaw who belongs to the Lucman clan of Bayang, Lanao del Sur.

The event served as an initial highlight of the celebration of the region’s 24th founding anniversary which will last until December 19, when local residents commemorate the Shariff Kabunsuan Day.

The Kabunsuan Day is a non-working regional holiday observed yearly to honor Shariff Mohammad Kabunsuan, a Muslim missionary from Johore, now an island state in Malaysia, who arrived in the 14th century in what is now Cotabato City to preach Islam.

The start of the celebration of the ARMM’s 24th founding anniversary, meanwhile, coincided with Thursday’s Sheik Karimul Makdum Day.

The Makdum Day is also a yearly regional holiday being observed throughout the autonomous region in commemoration of the arrival 633 years ago in Simunul, now an island town in Tawi-Tawi, of Arab preacher Makdum from the Middle East.

Makdum was the first ever Muslim cleric to set foot in Mindanao to spread Islam.

Relatives of Maguindanao massacre victims mark 4th year anniversary with 'cry for justice'

(PNA), CTB/NYP/EOF

KIDAPAWAN CITY, Nov 23 (PNA) -- Relatives of the victims of Maguindanao massacre will commemorate the fourth year anniversary of the carnage with a visit at the crime site in Barangay Salman, Ampatuan, Maguidnanao.

Police Officer 3 Elliver Cablitas, husband of masascre victim Marites Cablitas, said a mass and a fun run will highlight Saturday's commemoration of the country's worst election related violence.

Cablitas said justice remain elusive for 58 people, 30 of whom were journalists, who were mercilessly killed on November 23, 2009.

He said a mass will be held at the Forest Lake Cemetery where 12 of the journalists who perished in the carnage were buried.

The other day, some journalists from various parts of the country visited the massacre site where they offered prayers and lighted candles to remember their loved ones and co-workers.

Rowena Paraan, national chairperson of National Union of Journalists in the Philippines, said NUJP will continue to cry for justice and closely watch the prosecution of those responsible in the murders.

Employees of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao also offered prayers and lighted candles for the massacre victims.

Malacanang said the slain journalists and others were at the wrong time and at the wrong place will always be remembered.

Secretary Sonny Coloma said President Aquino has reiterated his desire to bring the perpetrators before the bar of justice.

While everyone wanted justice done quickly, Coloma said the government is patiently waiting for justice to take its course.

Arrested and facing multiple murder charges were 104 persons, including what the government prosecutors believed were the masterminds, former Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr, his namesake Andal Jr who was mayor of Datu Unsay municipality when he allegedly led the suspects, former ARMM Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan and nine other Ampatuans.

WFP, ARMM works on Gulayan sa Paaralan program

(PNA), FFC/NYP/WILNARD L. BACELONIA-OJT/

COTABATO CITY, Nov. 22 (PNA) -- The Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) and Department of Education (DepEd) in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) would jointly work on a program with the United Nations - funded World Food Program (WFP) aimed at improving food security in the region.

The program, dubbed as “Gulayan sa Paaralan, targets some 500 public elementary schools across the region as beneficiaries.

On Wednesday, lawyers Jamal Kulayan and Macmod Mending Jr., secretaries of ARMM’s DepEd and DAF offices respectively, inked a memorandum of understanding with WFP representatives advocating backyard vegetable gardening in public schools to help meet the nutritional requirements of school children in the rural communities.

The program targets 100 public schools per province or a total of 500 per year in which each school beneficiary is given five packs of seven-sachet assorted vegetable seeds and garden tools such as two sprinklers, shovel, hoes, bolos, rakes, tarpaulin and information materials.

“A total of 3,500 assorted vegetable seeds and 1,000 sets of garden tools would be handed to the schools for this year's program execution,” Mending said.

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

Local government units are directed to provide assistance, resources and incentives as support to the program.

DAF, DepEd partner with UN-WFP to improve food security in ARMM

(Arman C.Trabucon/OJT-Bureau of Public Information/APB/PIA-10)

MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur, Nov. 21 (PIA) --- The Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) and the Department of Education (DepEd) in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) will work jointly with the United Nations–World Food Program (UN-WFP) to improve food security in the region.

The three agencies signed on Tuesday, November 19, an agreement that establishes their collaboration in the strengthening of the “Gulayan sa Paaralan,” a project that brings together the school and the community in putting up a vegetable garden within the school compound.

Macmod Mending, DAF-ARMM secretary, said the project aims to improve food security and the health of school children in the region and also lessen incidents of malnutrition.

DepEd-ARMM will help identify an area of at least 1,000 square meters in every participating school where the “gulayan” or garden can be put up and encourage 20 farmer-parents and pupils to engage in the project.

The UN-WFP will support the project through the provision of food support, monitoring the progress of the engagements and facilitating meetings of stakeholders, according to the agreement.

Meanwhile, DAF-ARMM will provide agricultural inputs and organize a Project Management Team (PMT) at the provincial levels to ensure proper coordination among stakeholders.

The agency vowed to ensure the sustainability of the program and conduct a harvest festival as an indicator of its progress.

Mujiv S. Hataman, regional governor of ARMM, lauded the efforts and partnership of the three agencies.

He said it is also important to recognize the school beneficiaries who will successfully attain their target for the harvest festival.

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