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==Vast ‘all organic’ banana plantation in Maguindanao launched==
*Source: http://zamboangatimes.ph/zamboangatimes/top-news/11643-vast-all-organic-banana-plantation-in-maguindanao-launched-.html
*Thursday, July 31, 2014  11:59
:(Zamboanga Times)
Maguindanao residents on Monday witnessed the launching near the site of the infamous “Maguindanao Massacre” of Asia’s first ever 1,500-hectare the international Del Monte fruit firm.
The entity to run the farm in Barangay Masalay in Ampatuan town in Maguindanao, the Al-Mujahidun Agro Resources and Development, Inc. (AMARDI), will also put up an Islamic school, a hospital, and a “halal” food processing plant in the area to help address poverty and underdevelopment in the municipality.
The term halal is an Arabic description for food that Muslims can eat.
An emotional Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu told reporters the foreign capitalists of the “all organic” banana farm were ushered in by their own curiosity on how they can help change the image of Ampatuan town, tarnished by the gruesome politically-motivated murder in the area on November 23, 2009 of 58 people, among them his wife, Jenalyn.
The victims were in a convoy, on their way to Shariff Aguak town, seat of the provincial government, to submit there the certificate of candidacy for provincial governor of Mangudadatu, then vice-mayor of Buluan town.
They were flagged down by armed partisans, led by leaders of the Ampatuan clan, herded into hill in the west of Barangay Masalay, and, there, killed with assault rifles and machineguns one after another.
The Ampatuans had wanted their favored bet for governor, now detained Andal Ampatuan, Jr., then mayor of Datu Unsay town, to run for the highest elective post in the province virtually unopposed.
“These agricultural ventures coming in were paid in blood, sweat and tears of the massacre victims, my spouse included,” Mangudadatu said.
Also present in the on-field launching rite was Costa Rican entrepreneur-technocrat, Gonzalo Ordeñana, who is helping put up the banana farm, and his counterparts in the AMARDI, cleric Abdulwahid Sumauang, and Akmad Bullecer.
The farm will initially employ 2,000 Moro workers to propagate Cavendish bananas on contiguous rented lands owned by local residents.
The symbolic start of the plantation’s operation was jointly officiated by Mangudadatu, local officials led Mayor Rasul Sangki, Brig. Gen. Edmundo Pangilinan of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, and Agriculture Secretary Makmod Mending, Jr. of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Mending said the ARMM government is thankful to Mangudadatu for convincing foreign investors to help establish the organic banana plantation.
“We are encouraging free enterprise here. The ARMM just helped in the legalization of their entry to Maguindanao and provided them with technical support needed to hasten the realization of their dream to have this plantation in this once hostile area,” Mending said.
The figurehead of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, had earlier expressed support to AMARDI’s agriculture venture in Barangay Masalay, home to hundreds of MILF guerrillas.
Sumauang said the plantation will use only organic agricultural farm inputs to showcase the viability of environment-friendly agriculture, which is essential in the protection of the environment.
“This is, certainly, the first ever organic banana farm in Asia,” Saumaung said.
Pangilinan, who was deputy commander for the Mindanao peace process of the Western Mindanao Command in Zamboanga City prior to his assumption as 6th ID commander last May 2014, said the establishment of the banana farm will improve the security situation in Barangay Masalay and surrounding areas.
The 6th ID has jurisdiction over Central Mindanao’s adjoining Maguindanao, North Cotabato, and Sultan Kudarat towns.
Pangilinan said providing Moro rebels with employment will bolster the efforts of the government and the MILF to foster normalcy in the province.
==MAY MALACANANG NA ANG BANGSAMORO / Refurbished ARMM building to open to the public today==
*Source: http://www.interaksyon.com/article/92242/may-malacanang-na-ang-bangsamoro--refurbished-armm-building-to-open-to-the-public-today
*Wednesday, July 30, 2014 10:08 am
:By Dennis Arcon (InterAksyon.com)
COTABATO CITY – Refurbished to serve as the Office of the Bangsamoro People, the former office of ARMM governor in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao compound will formally open to the public today.
The rehabilitation of the so-called Malacanang of the South was led by ARMM’s Department of Public Works and Highways and funded from the P25 million from its savings.
The work on the building is a preparation for the Bangsamoro government, said ARMM Executive Secretary Atty. Laisa Alamia.
The public opening will coincide with the celebration of officials and employees and the Bangsamoro of the Eidl Fitr, or the end of Ramadan.
A kanduli or a thanksgiving ceremony will be held today, and governors from the five ARMM provinces, including Maguindanao’s Esmael Mangudadatu, Lanao del Sur’s Mamintal Adiong, Basilan’s Jum Akbar, Tawi Tawi’s Nurbert Sahali, and Sulu’s Abdusakur Tan II, are expected to attend the event.
Earlier, Maguindanao Governor Mangudadatu promised to send a truckload of bangus and the other governors roasted cows for the kanduli.
==Financial aid given to ambush victims==
*Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/zamboanga/local-news/2014/07/29/financial-aid-given-ambush-victims-356610
*Tuesday, July 29, 2014
:By Bong Garcia
GOVERNOR Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm) extended financial assistance to the victims of Monday’s gruesome ambush in the province of Sulu.
Twenty-three people, including women and children, were killed while nine others wounded when a group of Abu Sayyaf bandits ambushed two passenger jeepneys around 8:30 a.m. Monday in the villages of Lower Talipao, Talipao, Sulu.
Hataman flew aboard a military helicopter Tuesday afternoon from Isabela City, Basilan and proceeded to a hospital where some of the victims were transferred from a medical facility in Jolo, Sulu.
Two of the five victims who were taken to a hospital in Zamboanga City unfortunately died Tuesday.
The rest of the victims are admitted in the hospital in Jolo, Sulu
Hataman was accompanied by military, police, and Armm officials when he visited the victims at the hospital in Zamboanga City.
Earlier, Hataman met with top military and police officials in this city as they monitor the situation in the different parts of Armm while celebrating Eid’l Fitr.
He strongly condemned Monday’s ambush staged by the Abu Sayyaf bandits led by Idang Susukan and Sibih Pisih.
The perpetrators must be brought before the bar of justice.
==ARMM welcomes SONA with optimism for next year; lauds peace efforts, infra projects==
*Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=9&rid=667012
*Monday, July 28, 2014
:By Edwin O. Fernandez [(PNA), LAP/NYP/EOF]
COTABATO CITY, July 28 (PNA) -– President Benigno Aquino III’s 5th State of the Nation Address (SONA) was welcomed with high optimism in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
Inside the ARMM compound, the regional government put up a makeshift viewing venue for ARMM employees and others who would like to listen to the SONA.
”We are glad the President announced a P51-billion infrastructure project for ARMM,” said Johainna Abdullah, an employee of ARMM, who was among those who viewed and listened to the SONA inside the compound.
A streamer written with “Magsama-sama tayo dahil SONA natin ito” was posted in front of the makeshift stage where the TV monitor was placed. Beside it is the photo of President Aquino.
”I was a bit anxious the President would not touch on the Bangsamoro Basic Law,” Susana Modz Kautin, 29, said in the vernacular after the SONA.
”But he vowed the draft law will be forwarded to Congress and hope to be approved before the year ends,” she added, giving a sigh of relief.
In his report to the nation, the President said he was determined to complete the Bangsamoro Basic Law and vowed to do it in the name of peace.
”My hope remains, peace is coming and that is my feeling,” said Wyncell Obales, college student, who was dreaming for a peaceful Mindanao.
”I am still hoping peace will come under President Aquino because he was very sincere,” another student, Romulo Bernales, said.
”While P-noy has setbacks in his desire to attain genuine reform, we should recognize what he has done in the last four years, we should not be blinded by claims of few militants who have vested interest and vested agenda,” a government teacher, who only gave her first name, Divina, commented.
”We should remember he cannot do it alone, it needs more people like us who toe the “daang matuwid,” she added.
The announcement of more budget for ARMM came as a good news just in time when Muslims, majority of whom are in ARMM, are celebrating the end of the fasting month of Ramadhan.
”At least we have something to look up to next year, more development projects for our region,” Nailani Hussein, a resident of Cotabato City, said.
==GUESS / How is ARMM trying to make farmers productive?==
*Source: http://www.interaksyon.com/article/92022/guess--how-is-armm-trying-to-make-farmers-productive
*Sunday, July 27, 2014 8:27 am
:By Edwin O. Fernandez (Philippines News Agency)
COTABATO CITY – The Department of Agriculture and Fisheries of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (DAF-ARMM) has adopted an unusual program in Tawi-Tawi to make farmers productive and earn additional income.
On Saturday, it distributed goats to members of 17 farmer-organizations in Tawi-Tawi, including Muslims who were deported from Sabah, Malaysia.
Makmod Mending, regional secretary of DAF-ARMM, said the distribution of 374 goats to farmers was part of the P23 million-worth halal goat-raising project of his office.
The livestock dispersal program covers five ARMM provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi.
Mending said simple guidelines must be followed by the beneficiaries so the project will continue and benefit other farmers.
”The offspring of the goats the farmers received will be shared with their neighbors in their farming communities to maximize reproduction,” he said.
Mending said recipients are prohibited from slaughtering any of the animals for celebration purposes. They are also prohibited from selling the livestock.
The goats were distributed to officials of farmer-organizations during a symbolic rite at the compound of DAF-ARMM’s provincial office in Bongao, capital town of Tawi-Tawi.
Mending said goat dispersal will also be held in other provinces of the region.
==Gov't rebuilding ancient 'Chinese pier' in Tawi-tawi==
*Source: http://www.philstar.com/news-feature/2014/07/26/1350610/govt-rebuilding-ancient-chinese-pier-tawi-tawi
*Saturday, July 26, 2014 2:31 pm
:By John Unson (philstar.com)
COTABATO CITY, Philippines —  An old "Chinese pier" in Tawi-Tawi is being rebuilt by government to revive an ancient trading network connecting seafaring traders from island towns to the capital of the province.
The reconstruction of the historic Chinese pier in Bongao island, seat of the provincial government, is sourced from a P75 million development allocation from the 2013 and 2014 infrastructure budget of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
The pier, originally built at the main seaside trading center in Bongao town, is a major entry point for products and people coming from island towns in Tawi-Tawi and from Sabah, Malaysia.
The ARMM's Department of Public Works and Highways is presently constructing a 400-meter long watercraft berthing spot at the Chinese pier, and a concrete bridge and road that would connect the facility to the Bongao seaport, where bigger cargo and passenger boats dock.
The DPWH-ARMM has earmarked P50 million for next year's improvement of the newer and larger Bongao seaport.
Hadji Emil Sadain, regional secretary of DPWH-ARMM, said the old Chinese pier is also known as the "circumferential docking area" in Bongao owing to its lengthy stretch that straddles through seaside trading sites.
The Chinese pier connects to the Ridjiki Boulevard in Bongao, which leads to the municipality’s bigger seaport in the west of the island town.
"This old Chinese pier was destroyed by strong waves in the 1970s. The ARMM government is fixing it now to accelerate the economic growth of Tawi-Tawi," Sadain said.
He added that the DPHW-ARMM is grateful to Tawi-Tawi Gov. Nurbert Sahali and his sister, Rep. Ruby Sahali, for their support of efforts to improve the Chinese pier.
Sadain, accompanied by Assistant Secretary Numeiry Jalani of the ARMM's services convergence office for the Basilan-Sulu-Tawi-Tawi (Basulta) area, inspected the project site last Thursday.
Sadain said he is satisfied with how the project is being implemented. He said he will report his findings on Monday to ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman.
Hataman, to ensure transparency, even enlisted the help of various non-government organizations and different media outfits in the monitoring of the project, Sadain said.
Bongao Mayor Jasper Que, whose office is helping oversee the project, said his constituent-merchants in Bongao are anticipating dramatic improvements in the local economy once the Chinese pier’s improvement is complete.
The business communities in Bongao, known as the country's "southern backdoor," and those in surrounding island municipalities, have robust, centuries-old trade links with merchants in Sabah, Malaysia and in Indonesia.
==PAMANA-ARMM MNLF beneficiaries participate in project planning==
*Source: http://news.pia.gov.ph/index.php?article=1521406252415
*Friday, July 25, 2014
:(Naz Buisan/PAMANA-ARMM/APB/PIA-10)
MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur, July 25 (PIA) – Around 21 members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) from seven barangays in Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur participated in the formulation of  management plans for the implementation of livelihood programs under the Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan (PAMANA) program.
The participants also identified and listed down their counterpart activities as preparation for the delivery of their approved project items.
The two-day Orientation-Workshop on the Implementation of PAMANA- ARMM Livelihood Programs for the MNLF Communities held July 15 to 16, 2014 in Cotabato City was facilitated by the Office of the ARMM Regional Governor through the PAMANA Management Office (PMO).
The activity, conducted through a participatory process, was aimed at coming up with a project operation and management plan for each target MNLF community.
MNLF Commander Abukhair A. Amirol, one of the MNLF senior leaders, expressed his satisfaction on the activity. “The orientation-workshop is more than 100 percent successful because we became more aware on the program as we, the beneficiaries, are the one planning for the sustainability of our livelihood project,” he said.
Another objective of the activity was for the beneficiaries to acquire practical understanding on the different production technologies.
Hence, in coordination with the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries-(DAF) in the region, the MNLF members learned the practical technologies on corn production, upland and lowland rice production, vegetables, perennial crops, and livestock.
Hadja Jalica D. Mangacop, High- Valued Crop Development (HVCD) Program Coordinator of DAF-ARMM thanked the PMO for involving them in the activity.
“I am very grateful to Engr. Dong K. Anayatin who personally visited my office and asked for resource persons. I am glad that we are involved here because we want to make this project more sustainable,” she said.
The HVCD Program Coordinator also congratulated the PMO staff for the efficiency in conducting the workshop. “This is my first time to see young individuals in ARMM facilitating workshop like this. We need this kind of people”, she added.
DAF- ARMM PAMANA Focal Person Engr. Guiomla Satol also challenged the MNLF Beneficiaries. He emphasized that the entrepreneurial and management skills are essential flavours of successful and farm sustainable farming activity. “Farming is a business, which means it should be continuously cycling to provide income and employment, thus economic development of the community”, he explained.
Meanwhile, Engr. Dong K. Anayatin, Program Manager of the PAMANA Management Office who is also the Assistant Regional Secretary on Special Concerns, expressed his warm appreciations to the MNLF members for coming up with such great workshop outputs.
“I am amazed with what I have witnessed. You have done a very good output which is very essential for the development of your respective livelihood projects,” he said.
He further underscored that the success and failure of the projects are in the participants’ hands.
PAMANA in the ARMM is concentrated on providing development interventions and socio-economic packages to conflict-affected areas in the region. One of its components is PAMANA for MNLF Communities in support to the implementation of the 1996 Final Peace Agreement between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the MNLF ensuring security of the communities.
==Night fun run helps raise funds for ARMM’s young athletes==
*Source: http://news.pia.gov.ph/index.php?article=1521406124144
*Thursday, July 24, 2014
:(Bureau of Public Information/APB/PIA-10)
MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur, July 24 (PIA) --- Close to 300 employees of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) including some of its officials, has joined the Ramadhan night fun run Tuesday, July 22.
The night fun run was organized by the ARMM to help raise funds for the region’s contingent to the Batang Pinoy, an annual sporting event of the Philippine Sports Commission.
Al-Trekee Dayan, ARMM regional sports coordinating office (RSCO) director, said they are trying to raise funds to support ARMM’s young athletes who will compete in at least four sporting events in this year’s Batang Pinoy.
He said ARMM’s contingent will compete in beach volleyball, volleyball, swimming and taekwondo.
“These are sports where our athletes have demonstrated a comparative edge, especially during the recent Palarong Pambansa,” he added.
According to him, the qualifying leg for Mindanao participants will be held in the second week of September in Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur.
With two event categories, 2km run for female and 3km run for male, the night fun run also highlighted calls for an end to the Israeli offensive in Gaza.
“I want to express my sympathy with my Muslim brothers and sisters in Gaza and also support our athletes who will compete in the Batang Pinoy,” said Nash Camo, winner of the fun run’s male category.
==DA to start its first Farm-to-Market Road Project in ARMM==
*Source: http://news.pia.gov.ph/index.php?article=1781406040928
*Wednesday, July 23, 2014
:(da.gov.ph)
QUEZON CITY, July 23 --  While the Department of Agriculture‘s Mindanao Rural Development Program (DA-MRDP) has ended in June this year, the DA is now set to roll out its bigger, wider and biggest foreign-assisted program dubbed as the Philippine Rural Development Program (PRDP).
Secretary of Agriculture Proceso J. Alcala said in a press statement that PRDP aims to establish a government platform for a modern, climate-smart and market-oriented agriculture and fishery sector. It also complements the DA’s major initiatives particularly in reducing poverty, creating broad-based or inclusive growth and creating more jobs and livelihood opportunities.
Bankrolled through the country’s World Bank loan proceeds, the six-year program gets an allocation of about $670 million or P27.50 billion to cover and finance as many project proposals from the Local Government Units and farmers’ and fishers’ groups nationwide. Two-thirds of the said PRDP funds or about P18.50 billion is allotted to infrastructure while P6.90 billion will go to value-chain agri-fishery enterprises.
Maguindanao will be the pilot province of PRDP in ARMM, where the very first concrete farm-to-market (FMR) road project will be established in Talayan town as a result of the acceptance of support of ARMM Governor Mujiv S. Hataman and Maguindanao Governor Esmail Toto Mangudadatu during a  stakeholders consultative meeting with the WB officials held recently in Davao City.
In another stakeholders consultative meeting held in Talayan on July 12, DA-ARMM Regional Secretary Atty. Makmod D. Mending, Jr. expressed his commitment of support to the project, urging the local officials to unite and support the construction of the 12.3 km. concrete FMR that will traverse at least five barangays. Ninety percent of the P147.60-million project will be funded by PRDP, while 10% or P14,70M will be shouldered by the LGU.
RPCO-ARMM head Kalunsiang Dimalen said  the four components of the PRDP namely: i-PLAN, investment in agri-fishery modernization plan; i-BUILD, intensified building up infrastructure and logistics for development; i-REAP, investment in rural enterprises for agriculture and fisheries productivity and i-SUPPORT or implementation support. Under the program, the priority commodities in ARMM are oil palm, cassava and banana, coconut, coffee, rubber, tilapia and mallard duck, Dimalen added. er, wider and biggest foreign-assisted program dubbed as the Philippine Rural Development Program (PRDP).
==DAP supports reform programs in ARMM, PHL peace process==
*Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=1&rid=665027
*Tuesday, July 22, 2014
:(PNA), LAM/LDV/SGP
MANILA, July 22 (PNA) -- The regional government has undertaken significant reforms and development initiatives in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), including ensuring quality road infrastructures in the region, through the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).
ARMM Regional Governor Mujiv Hataman, during Monday's general assembly of employees and staff of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), said reforms in the region include validating licensed teachers to weed out ghost teachers.
Hataman said these are also capacity-building programs for ARMM agencies, particularly the Department of Public Works and Highways, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, and the Department of Education towards the goal of having ISO (International Organization for Standardization) certification for these offices, which used to be very susceptible to corruption.
He said the ARMM regional government aims to attain positive results and benchmarks before its elected officials step down once the Bangsamoro region is created with the ratification of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).
The regional governor added that the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) also helped boost investments in ARMM this year.
“In 2014, the target investment was 2.5 billion. After the CAB was signed, we reached P2.7 billion by early June,” he said in a statement.
"Reforms are very important for the region," Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Quintos Deles, for her part, said.
In terms of the peace process, Deles noted that the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) received additional allotment from the DAP amounting to P1.82 billion in 2011 and P248 million in 2012.
She said the amount supported its crucial work on achieving negotiated political settlement of armed conflicts and peace and development initiatives as a complementary track under the Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan (PAMANA) program.
"The funds were utilized for priority development projects for communities nationwide affected by and vulnerable to armed conflict as well as areas covered by existing peace agreements," Deles said.
These include the provision of immediate and livelihood assistance to former rebels, the consultation and capacity-building interventions in support of addressing women’s issues in situations of armed conflict through the “Localization of the National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security”; and the conduct of information, communication and monitoring activities in line with the peace process.
Deles said these programs benefited the people in the desire for inclusive peace and progress.
"As OPAPP is not an implementing agency, the funds were transferred to line agencies and local government units who signed memoranda of agreements with OPAPP, for the implementation of the projects," the peace adviser noted.
==PNP-ARMM intensifies search, rescue for 1 more kidnapped DSWD worker==
*Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=664512
*Monday, July 21, 2014
:(PNA), FPV/NYP/EOF
CAMP SK PENDATUN, Maguindanao, July 21 (PNA) –- Police in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Monday intensified its efforts to rescue, through peaceful means, the fourth social welfare worker seized by extremist Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) in Talipao, Sulu last week.
The heavily armed ASG is still holding Roberto Saputalo, a social welfare worker of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD-ARMM), in the hinterlands of Talipao, according to reports from Sulu police provincial director Senior Supt. Abraham Orbita.
Four social workers, namely, Lerma Jura; couple Nurhati Sicangco, coordinator for Talipao of the DSWD’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), and her husband Agusto; and Saputalo, were conducting survey for 4Ps when the ASG flagged down the vehicle they were riding in Barangay Sinupaan Thursday.
Lerma, sensing something wrong, quietly fled from the group and walked for about a kilometer until village officials found her.
The victims were brought to the hinterlands of Talipao and the Sicangco couple was freed Saturday.
No ransom was paid but police learned the family paid “board and lodging fee” to the kidnappers.
ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman has ordered the local government officials in Talipao to secure the release of the remaining victim without paying any ransom as a matter of government policy.
==(SONA) Mindanao Peace Process, Aquino's greatest achievements in Mindanao his 3 predecessors failed to achieve==
==(SONA) Mindanao Peace Process, Aquino's greatest achievements in Mindanao his 3 predecessors failed to achieve==
*Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=9&rid=664315
*Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=9&rid=664315
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