Difference between revisions of "Autonomous Region Muslim Mindanao News September 2014"

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==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==
==OWWA-ARMM scholarship examinees get free review==
*Source: http://news.pia.gov.ph/index.php?article=2411410316134
*Source: http://news.pia.gov.ph/index.php?article=2411410316134
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