Autonomous Region Muslim Mindanao News August 2014

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Autonomous Region Muslim Mindanao Archived News
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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.

After 8-month vacancy, MSU still awaits PNoy appointment of new president

(LBG, GMA News)

After eight months of repeated appeals for President Benigno Aquino III to appoint a new president for the Mindanao State University system, MSU has remained without a "legitimate" head.

A second open letter to President Aquino (dated August 31, 2014) of a group of MSU faculty members, students and concerned multisectoral groups reads: "It is now eight months since January 2014 that MSU has no legitimate head, as the 'expired' president is sitting as mere caretaker without new appointment after the expiration of his term on January 4, 2014."

"This impasse is running counter to President Aquino’s matuwid na daan principle... as the authority of the caretaker – who is supposed to stay as holdover president only for one month as provided by law – has lost its legal basis," it added.

Also, it said the MSU constituents are now confused about the sincerity of President Aquino, for not acting on the urgent appeal of MSU constituents.

"Applicants to the position are highly competent, being professors with experience in executive positions and adept at the MSU situation and cultural environment, and have been expressing readiness to serve the university since January 2014," the letter added.

Speculations over the delay of the appointment abound. The people behind the letter suspected that "President Aquino might have fears that the one he will appoint could not lead well, or that a serious irregularity is keeping the president uninformed about the MSU situation."

But it stressed that the President must rest assured that "some of the aspirants are highly qualified and competent to lead the university."

"Aspirants are as competent as country's justices, lawmakers and department secretaries," it said.

President Aquino might now listen to the clamor of his "bosses" in Mindanao, considering that top officials of his administration have recommended qualified aspirants."

Government officials who have recommend some aspirants include: House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr, deputy Speaker Pangalian Balindong, Defense Sec. Voltaire Gazmin, Sen. Grace Poe, Sen. Bam Aquino, Rep. Joselito "Jonjon Mendoza, Rep. Marivic Sy-Alvarado, Rep. Sitti Djalia Turabin-Hataman, among others, along with leaders and members of multisectoral organizations in Mindanao, the letter said.

Moreover, the letter said, "The groups that have endorsed an aspirant include the Office of the Royal Sultan of Maguindanao; the Federation of the Royal Sultanate of Lanao; The Noy-Mar Movement, ARMM Chapter; Bam Aquino for Senator Movement, ARMM; Bagong Umaga Movement; the military; the PNP; the MILF; some LGU officials in Mindanao; the Muslim Ex-Political Detainees of the Philippines, Inc; the MSU faculty members, employees and students; and several multisectoral organizations in Mindanao."

The open letter was signed by Datu Kharis Pamaloy, chairman ARMM chapter of the Noy-Mar Movement.

Over 600 applicants seeking teaching positions in ARMM

By John Unson (philstar.com)

Applicants for teaching positions in government schools in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao undergo requisite entrance testing, one of several rigorous screening procedures they need to comply with to determine if they are qualified for appointment or not. (John Unson)

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - More than 600 teachers are applying en masse for vacant teaching positions in far-flung areas in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

John Magno, assistant regional secretary for operations of the Department of Education (DepEd), said 625 teacher-applicants are now being screened to determine if they are qualified for appointment by the region’s chief executive, Governor Mujiv Hataman.

The ARMM government had enlisted from between May to July this year more than a thousand teacher-applicants to permanent teaching positions in Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, which are both in mainland Mindanao, and the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

“The recruitment procedures takes time because we are imposing stringent validation of the qualifications of each applicant based on our `Teachers Assessment and Competency Examination,' which is a very extensive process,” Magno said.

The high illiteracy in the autonomous region is partly blamed on lack of competent teachers in far-flung schools and on the anomalous hiring of thousands in the past, mostly non-residents without teaching licenses who were appointed to teaching positions in exchange for money.

The central office of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has approved the hiring of additional 1,637 new teachers in the autonomous region for fiscal year 2014. Nation ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1

“The records from the DBM pertaining to that are intact in our office, open to scrutiny by the media and concerned sectors,” Magno said.

Magno said their screening procedures for applicants are also open to journalists and observers from non-government organizations and the ARMM’s Islamic and Christian religious communities.

“We don’t hire applicants who are like square wooden pegs that are being forced into round holes on the ground. That is the reason why we can’t hire as many teachers within a very short period of time,” Magno said.

The DepEd-ARMM is keen on filing out all vacant teaching positions within the year, Magno added.

Lawyer Laisa Alamia, ARMM’s regional executive secretary, said the DBM will not download the funds for the salaries corresponding to each of the approved permanent teaching items unless filled out appropriately.

Alamia and Magno both said the ARMM’s education department is not freezing vacant teaching positions either, contrary to insinuations by applicants who failed in the entrance examinations.

Magno said there were applicants who underwent the DepEd-ARMM's extensive screening processes, but eventually failed for not having licenses and for flunking in practical teaching demonstration drills.

“It took us time to screen them. We need to consider new applications again and the process takes time,” Magno said.

Alamia said new appointees cannot receive salaries yet until their appointments have been attested by the field office of the Civil Service Commission in the autonomous region.

“It is only after DBM approves the attested appointment that the salary allocation for each teaching position can be downloaded to the region. We’re not dilly dallying here. We’re putting everything in proper perspective,” Alamia said.

ARMM gov leads launching of multi-million Maguindanao 'road to peace' projects

By Noel Y. Punzalan [(PNA), LAP/NYP]

COTABATO CITY, Aug. 29 (PNA) -- Regional Governor Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) on Thursday led ARMM officials in launching two multi-million concrete “roads to peace” projects in Barira and Talayan towns.

The projects, according to Hataman, was meant to hasten connectivity of Moro farmers to marketplaces to sell their agricultural products.

ARMM Public Works Secretary Emil Sadain accompanied Hataman in the launching of the five-kilometer, P70-million Mercedes-Buldon-Barira road in Barira town and the P70 million Marader-Talayan poblacion road in Talayan.

Before the groundbreaking rites, ARMM, through its Health-Education-Livelihood-Protection Synergy (HELPS), distributed equipment and capital grants to representatives of seven farmers' cooperatives in far-flung towns.

The ceremonial turnover of checks and equipment was initiated jointly by Hataman, Haroun Al-Rashid Lucman, Laisa Alamia and Makmod Mending, Jr., the ARMM’s vice governor, executive, and agriculture secretaries, respectively.

Sec. Sadain said the Barira road project will be funded with an allocation from the ARMM’s infrastructure budget while Talayan project will be funded jointly by the regional government and the Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan (PAMANA) program of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process.

The Tayalan road artery will interconnect more than a dozen agricultural enclaves where members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) live.

“This project is a big help to our efforts to improve the lives of our constituents in areas that were scenes of bloody conflicts in the past,” said former Talayan former Mayor Ali Midtimbang, father of current Talayan Mayor Tungkang Midtimbang.

Hataman said the road projects in Barira and Talayan are expected to be completed by December.

DepEd-ARMM develops 4 special programs to make pupils more competitive

(PNA), FPV/NYP/EOF

COTABATO CITY, Aug. 28 (PNA) –- To make students in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) competitive, the region’s Department of Education (DepEd-ARMM) will pilot four special programs in 23 public secondary schools in the region this school year to help students develop skills in journalism, arts, sports and foreign language, officials on Thursday said.

According to DepEd-ARMM Assistant Secretary Noor Saada, the special programs are for students with different learning styles to express themselves.

Saada said it will also help reduce the number of drop-outs as students who are otherwise bored with the regular secondary program will have other additional motivations to finish school and pursue their interest.

He said the program will provide opportunities for ARMM students to “get out of the box” and explore what are their interests aside from regular school curriculum.

DepEd-ARMM is working with ARMM’s Bureau of Public Information, Bureau on Cultural Heritage, Regional Sports Coordinating Office and the Bureau of Madaris Education in the implementation of the program.

School principals, head teachers and teachers who will handle the programs attended a three-day orientation last week that included enrichment activities provided by resource persons from DepEd-ARMM’s partner agencies.

“They have also planned how this program will take shape or will be implemented in their schools in terms of classroom management, school operation, division technical assistance and regional policy and resource support,” Saada said.

As a pilot test, Saada said special programs will be introduced to classes of 35 Grade 7 students who will exhibit inclination or interest in the selected skills.

ARMM Education Secretary Jamar Kulayan said they are committed to provide policy and resource support to the schools where the programs will be piloted.

ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman expressed his full support to the innovations envisioned by DepEd-ARMM and its partner agencies.

New police handguns arrive in ARMM

(PNA), CMR/NYP/EOF

CAMP SK PENDATUN, Maguindanao, Aug. 27 (PNA) -- Police officials in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao on Wednesday said that more policemen will be issued firearms following the arrival of new hand guns for cops assigned in the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

Chief Supt. Noel Delos Reyes, PNP-ARMM regional director, said a container van arrived Friday at Polloc Port, Parang, Maguindanao loaded with 1,117 pieces of Glock 17 Gen 4 intended for the PNP-ARMM.

In a press statement, Delos Reyes, said the firearms were part of the P1.2 billion handgun procurement by the PNP so that every member of the PNP can possess at least one gun.

“Defintely, we want all our policemen in the region to be equipped with firearms,” he said.

The police officers must use their guns not only to protect themselves but to safeguard the public,” Delos Reyes added.

The hand guns will be issued to qualified personnel of Maguindnao and Lanao del Sur police offices and the Regional Public Safety Battalion.

Superintendent Warren de Leon, PNP-ARMM chief logistics officer, said that the regional office is expecting another batch of firearms anytime soon which will be distributed to Basilan, Sulu and Tawi Tawi police provincial offices.

Delos Reyes said the shipment also included 31,276 rounds of ammunition, 3,351 pieces magazine assembly, 153 pieces patrol shoes, six poles rappelling rope and 16 pieces of tactical belt.

Earlier this month, Delos Reyes admitted the regional police office lacked firearms with some policemen having one or more firearms while others have none.

An internal audit conducted on firearms in the ARMM regional office showed some policemen were issued more than one firearm while many are yet to be issued firearms.

The audit showed that there were 228 police personnel assigned to the field who have more than one issued firearm, Delos Reyes said.

Following the audit, Delos Reyes ordered the recall of 737 issued firearms and re-issued them to other police personnel assigned in various police units in the region, according to threat level and crime situation.

The audit also discovered there were 335 firearms listed in its inventory but remained unaccounted for.

Because of this, he said said his office is now implementing a policy to rationalize the issuance and distribution of mission-essential equipment to line units.

With the new firearms supply, Delos Reyes said he hoped that the region will meet the 1:1 gun per police officer ratio.

Floods swamp Maguindanao towns

By Dennis Arcon (InterAksyon.com)

COTABATO CITY, Philippines -- Floods swamped 10 villages in the town of Sultan Kudarat in Maguindanao province and damaged a traffic bridge Buldon and Pigcawayan, North Cotabato, shutting it to cargo trucks.

Sultan Kudarat Mayor Datu Shamem Mastura said the flooding started around 1 a.m. Tuesday with the waters reaching knee-high on the national highway passing through the town, snarling traffic and stranding students and workers.

However, Mastura said there have been no casualties reported.

In Buldon, Ruffo Capada, president of the association of barangay captains, said the 40-meter bridge in Barangay Dinganen was damaged after the river overflowed Monday night.

Experts from the public works department office in the province were immediately deployed to assess the situation and oversee repairs.

ARMM pursues responsible mining law in the region

By Dennis Arcon (InterAksyon.com)

COTABATO CITY -- Officials of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) are pursuing the passage of a law that they said adheres to the principles of “responsible mining.”

Since Mujiv Hataman’s appointment as ARMM governor in 2011, his administration has earned P140 million for ARMM, mostly from nickel mining in Tawi-Tawi province.

Additional revenue from mining will fund more projects for the poorest region in the country, said ARMM Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Kahal Kedtag.

Last week, ARMM-DENR met with various civil society groups to talk about the possible effects of enacting a mining law in the region. The meeting was also called as seven companies have expressed their intention to mine in the region.

ARMM is said to be rich in gold, silver, oil, and other minerals, largely unexplored.

In relation to this, the town Sultan sa Baronggis is reportedly rich in natural gas, the amount enough to power the entire province of Maguindanao, said former ARMM Executive Secretary and former legal counsel of MNLF (Moro National Liberation Front) Chairman Nur Misuari, Atty. Randolph Bong Parcasio.

Many are hopeful that poverty and conflict will end, especially in the islands of ARMM, when the mining law in the region is passed.

Kidnapping as a source of livelihood will go down when people are able to have three square meals a day, said Parcasio.

In this light, ARMM-DENR Secretary Kedtag said the regional government wants to pursue only “responsible mining,” that is, “mining while caring for the environment.”

BEAM-ARMM classroom rehab to benefit more than 5k students in next 3 years

By Jade Dela Cruz Miguel [(PNA), CTB/JDM]

MANILA, Aug 24 (PNA) -- With its aim to reduce high classroom-to-student ratio in the Muslim region, the Basic Education Assistance for Muslim Mindanao (BEAM-ARMM) program is geared to benefit more than 5,000 students in the next three years through its ongoing classroom rehabilitation in the region.

According to Kevin Corbin, BEAM-ARMM team leader, the program which is funded by the Australian government is "designed to contribute to the alleviation of poverty and the emergence of peace in ARMM through targeted investments in basic education."

In the next few months, the program is set to build 60 more classrooms in Sulu to increase the number of classrooms in the province. Some of which had already been turned over by the BEAM-ARMM.

Among the classrooms rehabilitated by the program include those of Bakud Elementary School (BES), Hji. Gulamu Rasul, Hji. Hassiman, Hja. Taiba Abubakar Shuck, Tanjung and Jati Elementary Schools. These schools are located in the four Jolo DepEd-ARMM Districts in the Division of Sulu.

Furthermore, the program has recently turned over 24 newly-rehabilitated classrooms to six public schools in Sulu last August 18.

A teacher from BES has expressed her gratitude for the successful rehabilitation of eight classrooms in their school.

“I’ve been teaching here for more than 20 years and it’s the first time that my classroom was renovated,” said Nadzwa Inding.

BES had implemented a shifting scheme prior to the rehabilitation of classrooms, Inding shared adding that her pupils used to gather in one corner to avoid the leaks from a portion of their ceiling during rains.

“BEAM-ARMM fixed our ceiling. Now, my pupils enjoy a well-ventilated classroom equipped with hand washing facility, new chalkboard, and toilet,” she said.

Through June 2015, the program is expected to provide more learning facilities, quality teachers, and learning materials for poor children especially out-of-school youths through BEAM-ARMM's management systems in the region.

Aside from the rehabilitation of classrooms, DepEd-ARMM secretary Atty. Jamar Kulayan said that the agency will provide schools in Sulu with 1,340 chalkboards through its "Pisara ng Pagbabago Program". They will also put up a division library and Instructional Materials Development Center (IMDC).

Kulayan added that the IMDC will be equipped with computers, internet connection and photocopiers which can provide teachers an easier access to lesson plans, workbooks and other reference materials.

ARMM solon says bill establishing Muslim cemeteries gaining ground

By Noel Y. Punzalan [(PNA), CTB/NYP]

BULUAN, Maguindanao, Aug. 23 (PNA) – Majority of the residents of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) favor the passage and enactment into law of a regional bill seeking to establish Muslim cemeteries in the region, the proponent said.

Regional Assemblyman Khadafy Mangudadatu, a member of the ARMM’s 24-seat Regional Assembly representing Maguindanao’s second district, said there was a wide welcome and reception of the proposed law during a series of consultations in the ARMM provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

“There were positive, heartening comments from the people from the island provinces. The support was outpouring,” Mangudadatu told reporters.

Now on his third term, Mangudadatu was the main proponent of the bill.

Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Toto Mangudadatu, the regional lawmaker’s older sibling, earlier promised to donate family owned lots in the towns of Buluan, Pandag and Mangudadatu to serve as burial sites in support of the proposed law.

Mangudadatu said the bill is now set for finalization by the regional law making body next week.

Alzad Sattar, assistant secretary of the ARMM’s Department of Education and an Islamic theologian, said Islamic preachers favors Mangudadatu’s proposal.

He said the establishment of Islamic cemetery would give the dearly departed ones some dignity.

There are no known Muslim public cemeteries in the ARMM due to Moro tradition of burying their loved ones in family owned and private lands.

If enacted into law, Mangudadatu’s bill shall oblige local government units to provide lands for burial sites.

ARMM vows to protect environment, favors responsible mining

By Noel Y. Punzalan [(PNA), SCS/NYP]

COTABATO CITY, Aug. 22 (PNA) – Various stakeholders in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) agreed on Friday to cooperate in enforcing mining laws in the region where vast deposits of fossil fuels and minerals are tightly guarded from illegal explorations.

Officials of the ARMM led by Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Kahal Kedtag, environmentalists and representatives of the region’s Moro and indigenous non-Moro highland communities met at the Office of the Regional Governor (ORG) here and discussed comprehensively the region’s natural resources and how to preserve them.

During the discussions, some expressed support for “responsible mining” that will guarantee the welfare of the communities where mining is to take place.

Dubbed Multipartite Forum on Environment and Natural Resources, it was jointly organized by ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman, Regional Natural Resources Secretary Kahal Kedtag, and Oblate priest Eliseo Mercado Jr., director of the Institute for Autonomy and Governance.

Under Republic Act No. 9054, ARMM has limited powers over mining operations, with only the national government can issue licenses for extraction of oil, natural gas and minerals.

In the past two years, the regional government earned P140 million in regional wealth tax from mining operations.

Many of the participants of the forum expressed concerned over unregulated and unprotected mining activities in the region.

Aside from mining, the group also vowed to work for the preservation of environment in the region’s five provinces -- Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

ARMM to join massive tree planting to set world record

(PNA), FPV/NYP/EOF

COTABATO CITY, Aug. 21 (PNA) -- In support to the national and global greening campaign, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) will participate in the attempt to establish a world record for planting more than four million tree seedlings in southern Philippines on September 26, officials said Thursday.

ARMM Regional Natural Resources and Environment Secretary Kahal Kedtag will oversee the actual involvement of locals in the event.

Regional government agencies, various non-government organizations, the academe, youth and cause-oriented groups as well as all stakeholders will join the September 26, 2014 attempt to set an international record for planting of most number of trees in mainland Mindanao and surrounding islands.

Dubbed “TreeVolution: Greening MindaNOW,” was conceived by the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

According to Kedtag, field offices of DENR-ARMM and in administrative regions, will lead the tree planting activity.

“We in the ARMM shall also participate extensively in that effort to set a world tree planting record,” Kedtag said, adding that his office and the regional government had been planting trees as part of its contribution to the national greening program.

India holds the record of having planted 1,945,535 trees in different areas in one planting activity on August 15, 2011.

For the provinces of Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, the ARMM DENR office is now coordinating with the military’s 6th Infantry Division and all other military and police units in the ARMM, and with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to ensure the safety of participants.

The primary objective of the September 26 event is to encourage massive support from stakeholders to meet Mindanao’s target for the National Greening Program (NGP).

Maguindanao province, according to Kedtag, has already signified its intention to participate.

Kedtag said Maguindanao has been a host to continuing tree planting projects, which include the continuing dispersal of free rubber tree seedlings by the office of Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu.

Aside from participating in next month’s massive tree planting, Maguindanao has dispersed thousands of rubber trees a couple of years back.

Kedtag explained that previous tree planting activities was hitting two birds with one stone, that is plant fruit bearing tree and earn a living and plant to protect the environment.


ARMM holds assessment on material and child health care

(PNA), FPV/NYP/EOF

COTABATO CITY, Aug. 20 (PNA) – To ensure the region meets two of the Millennium Development Goals, the Department of Health in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (DOH-ARMM) have gathered government and private health workers engaged in maternal and child health care in the region to evaluate its performance.

MDGs are eight international development goals set by the United Nations to be attained in 2015 following a summit of UN member states in 2000.

It includes the reduction of child mortality and improvement of maternal health, according to the ARMM Bureau of Public Information (BPI).

According to Dayang Jumaide, DOH-ARMM assistant secretary, maternal and child health care have greatly improved in the ARMM with the reduction of the maternal and infant mortality rate.

In 2008, maternal mortality rate in the region was at 245 per 100,000 live births. This was brought down to 66 per 100,000 live births in 2013, far lower than the national rate of 152 per 100,000 live births.

On the other hand, the infant mortality rate of 55 per 1,000 live births in 2008 in the region was reduced to 16 per 1,000 live births in 2013.

ARMM Health Secretary Dr. Kadil Sinolinding Jr. attributed the improvement to the wide use techniques such as Active Management of Third Stage Labor (AMTFL) and Essential Intra-partum Newborn Care (EINC) and on the deployment of additional health personnel, rehabilitation and construction of health infrastructures, delivery of equipment and enhancement of skills through training.

“The ARMM pioneered techniques which greatly reduced the IMR and MMR without the use of very sophisticated machines,” Sinolinding told BPI-ARMM.

Jumaide said the two-day workshop, which ended Wednesday, was meant to assess maternal and child health care in the region in preparation for the MDGs evaluation survey set in 2015.

“We would like to gauge how far have we gone in achieving our commitment to the attainment of MDGs for ARMM. We want to pool together stakeholders from the government and our partners in private institutions to strategize convergence efforts and set priority areas for mutual support and program implementation,” Jumaide said without releasing the final assessment report.

Jamaide was optimistic the final report would show they hit the target.

Gov’t mechanic seized, pal killed by Sulu Abus

By John Unson (philstar.com)

Security forces on Monday continued tracking down some 30 suspected Abu Sayyaf gunmen who seized late Saturday night two government employed mechanics in the town of Patikul, Sulu.

Police said one of the mechanics was later found dead not very far from where they were abducted.

Senior Supt. Abraham Orbita, Sulu police chief, said an estimated 30 armed men stormed the Sulu provincial government's motorpool in Patikul around 10:30 p.m.and abducted chief mechanic Ronald Pelegrin, 39, and his assistant, Dante Avila, 29.

In his report to ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman, Orbita said police and marines were dispatched Sunday to hunt the abductors, believed to have fled to the jungles of Patikul's neighboring towns.

Orbita said Avila's body was found dead Sunday. He was shot by the suspected Abu Sayyaf gunmen.

Saturday night's abduction came a month after four government social workers were seized by Abu Sayyaf militants in Talipao town on July 18. The four social workers were on their way to validate family-beneficiaries to be included in the Department of Social Welfare and Developmen's cash assistance program for poor families and to monitor a Pamana project meant for families of former Muslim rebels when they were abducted in the village of Upper Sinumaan.

The four workers were later released separately through negotiations carried out provincial officials.

The Abu Sayyaf, armed with mostly improvised explosive devices, mortars and automatic rifles, has carried out bombings, kidnappings, assassinations and extortions in a self-determined fight for an independent Islamic state in Southern Philippines.

Last week, Abu Sayyaf, together with the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), another militant Muslim group, have thrown support to the Islamic State (IS), a group of jihadist in Syria and Iraq.

But the military claimed this reported support is "unverified."

Domingo Tutaan, spokesman of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, had asked Philippine journalists to be "circumspect in reporting the alleged linkages", saying this may cause undue alarm to the people.

Clips have been posted on the video sharing site YouTube, showing members of the Abu Sayyaf and BIFF pledging support to the IS, formerly known as ISIS.

A wire report quoted BIFF spokesman Abu Misry Mama as confirming that the BIFF indeed has alliance with the IS. The BIFF is composed of former leaders and members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Also last week, Sulu police have confirmed that German nationals doctor Stefan Victor Okonek and Henrite Dielen are being held captive by the Abu Sayyaf in Indanan town.

Orbita has confirmed the abduction after a photo of the Germans in the company of Filipino gunmen surfaced on Facebook. “Yes, it’s confirmed that they are being held hostage by the Abu Sayyaf group and all we can do now is to locate and monitor their movements,” Orbita said on Wednesday.

He said the group holding Okonek, 74, and Dielen, 42, was headed by a certain Alhabshi Misaya who operates in Indanan.

Binay announces 2016 plans to Maguindanao

By John Unson (philstar.com)

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines — Vice President Jejomar Binay on Sunday told local Moro, Christian and lumad folks he will definitely run for president in 2016.

Binay reaffirmed his bid for the presidency after inaugurating two projects in the province and a series of brief impromptu dialogues with local officials and senior members of the ethnic Maguindanaon royalty.

Binay and his entourage also dropped by dxMS in Cotabato City, Central Mindanao's oldest Catholic radio outfit run by the Oblate missionaries. While at the station, the vice president announced he would definitely aspire for the presidency during the 2016 presidential elections.

"I have already announced immediately after my election as vice president in 2010 that I will run for president in 2016. I really will," Binay said while inside the broadcast booth of dxMS.

Binay expressed support to peaceful efforts of resolving the Mindanao Moro issue.

Maguindanao, which has 36 towns, all bastions of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, is a political bailiwick of the Liberal Party, whose provincial figurehead, Governor Esmael Mangudadatu, is also a scion of a large Moro royal clan in the "raya" area (upper delta) of the province.

Former Tarlac Governor Margarita "Ting-Ting" Cojuangco and Valenzuela City Rep. Sherwin Gatchalian accompanied Binay as he toured Datu Odin Sinsuat town and Cotabato City amid tight security provided by the provincial police office and the Army's 6th Infantry Division.

Along with Maguindanao Vice Governor Lester Sinsuat and the municipality's chief executive, Mayor Ombra Sinsuat, Binay led the launching of a newly-constructed "senior citizens building" to be utilized as a welfare facet for elderly folks in Datu Odin Sinsuat.

The building was bankrolled by Binay's office and the local government of Datu Odin Sinsuat, the largest town in the first district of Maguindanao.

Binay, whose office contributed P500,000 for the construction of the building, said it is important for public officials to attend to needs of their elderly constituents.

Binay also led the inauguration of a multi-media center at the graduate school of the Mindanao State University in Tamontaka District in the northeast of Datu Odin Sinsuat.

Binay talked briefly with traditional Moro leaders, among them Datu Bimbo Sinsuat, who had served as assemblyman in the ARMM's 24-seat Regional Legislative Assembly for nine years, and Datu Tucao Mastura, former mayor of Sultan Kudarat town in Maguindanao, who both attended the symbolic launching of the two newly-completed projects.

The vice president also met with Cotabato City-based peace activist and priest Eliseo Mercado Jr, executive director of the Institute for Autonomy and Governance, a partner outfit of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung of Germany.

Mercado, who is involved in various projects complementing the Mindanao peace process, is a member of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, the congregation of Orlando Cardinal Quevedo.

Binay also visited Quevedo's pastoral residence, the Bishop's Palace in Cotabato City.

4 cops from PNP-12 excel in leadership training

(PNA), SCS/EOF

COTABATO CITY, Aug. 17 (PNA) – Four police officers from Police Regional Office (PRO-12) made their worth felt after emerging as topnotchers in mandatory schooling held at the Philippine National Police training center in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) inside Camp Salipada K. Pendatun in Parang, Maguindanao.

In a statement, the PNP in the SOCCSKSARGEN region, said the four police officers graduated on Friday with flying colors both in the Public Safety Junior Leadership Course (PSJLC) and Senior Leadership Course (PSSLC), making their promotions inevitable.

The two courses are mandatory training or courses for police non-commissioned officers as a requirement for one- rank promotion.

Only the Philippine Public Safety College (PPSC), through its Regional Training Centers nationwide, handles this training program, aside from other mandatory courses for officers and men of the PNP, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), including Philippine Coast Guard and other law enforcement agencies.

The four who outshone their batch mates from Luzon and other parts of Mindanao were Police Officer 3 Francis Blancada of PRO-12 who was awarded rank 1 among the PSJLC Class of 59; P03 Annalie Queen Alanis of Cotabato City Police Office who outperformed 54 other police officers and was bestowed with the highest award for the PSJLC CL 2014-01 Bravo Company; PO3 Edwin Gallego of North Cotabato Police Provincial Office; and SPO1 Carlito Carino of Pigcawayan Police Office in North Cotabato who also excelled both in academics and non-academics.

"We are carrying the name of our PRO in all the things we do, thus, we did everything to prove to them that we have the most competent police officers in the country. Also, we see to it that if we will leave the training center, it is with good morals and great pride," one of the awardees said.

In a statement, the graduates said: “Greatly, it manifest that our comrades in arms are competent enough to go to the battlefields as well as in the quest for excellence.”

PRO-12, headed by Chief Supt. Lester O. Camba, lauded the awardees and urged them to serve as models among other police officers in their respective units.

”Indeed, their achievements marked another history on the pillars of the said institution, ARMM Training Center and also gave high pride to their home unit, the PRO 12,” Camba said.

In Region 12, composed of the provinces of North Cotabato, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani and the cities of Cotabato, Kidapawan, Koronadal, Tacurong and General Santos, the regional training center is located in Lanton, Apopong, General Santos City.

It accommodates and caters to the training needs of police non-comissioned officers and sometimes the venue for training for Police Commissioned Officers under the satellite training program of the National Police College.

A police officer may take a mandatory course anywhere in the country if he or she wants as long as they are properly endorsed by their unit commanders.

ARMM’s fledgling economy peaks up

(Bureau of Public Information-ARMM/PIA-10)

MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur, Aug 15 (PIA) --- Representatives of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and the United Nation’s World Food Programme (UN-WFP) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) inked a tripartite partnership on food security and climate change mitigation projects in Maguindanao province.

ARMM Gov. Mujiv S. Hataman along with Cesar V. Galvan, UN-FAO project team leader, and Praveen Agrawal, UN-WFP representative and country director, signed a memorandum of understanding setting the implementation of a P26.6-million-worth project.

The multi-million deal is set to benefit thousands of farmers in the province who were affected by recurring floods and those with uncultivated land due to armed conflicts.

UN-WFP pledged P21.9M for the project while P4.7M will come from the UN-FAO.

ARMM’s Agriculture Secretary Makmod Mending, Jr. said the region’s Department of Agriculture will provide technical assistance and various farm inputs to the farmer beneficiaries.

Agrawal said the issue on food and nutrition is a cross-cutting matter that is interlinked with health, economy, peace and development in the region. That is why, according to him, food security is very vital in rebuilding conflict-ridden communities in Maguindanao.

“It is a great privilege to work with ARMM,” said Agrawal.

He added the UN-WFP has worked with their most important partners -- men and women of Mindanao to ensure their brighter future.

Maguindanao, one of the five provinces of ARMM, experiences perennial flooding. So farmers who are also flood victims have no chance of recovery, said Galvan.

Aside from training the farmers, UN-FAO will also give each of the farmers with rice and vegetable seeds packaged with fertilizers.

Mending said the newly-signed project also addresses climate change mitigation as distribution of agro-forestry inputs and building of dikes are included in it.

Meanwhile, Hataman gave assurance beneficial programs such as this will be sustained in his administration.

ARMM undertakes additional road projects in Maguindanao

(Bureau of Public Information)

MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur, August 14 (PIA) --- The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) will concrete a 7-kilometer farm-to-market road in the town of Talayan in Maguindanao to improve the flow of goods and produce in the area.

ARMM governor Mujiv Hataman, along with Makmod Mending and Emil Sadain, the region’s agriculture and public works secretary, respectively, signed a memorandum of agreement on Tuesday, August 12, with Talayan Mayor Tungkang Midtimbang on the implementation of the project.

The seven-km., P70-million-worth road will link the barangays of Poblacion and Marader in the town. The project will be funded by ARMM’s Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan (PAMANA) program and will be undertaken by the region’s Department of Public Works and Highways.

The PAMANA program is the national government’s flagship program that extends development interventions to the isolated, hard-to-reach and conflict-affected communities.

Hataman said once completed, the road will enhance the transport of farm products and help spur growth in the area.

The ARMM governor also spearheaded the inauguration of a P1.4 million, 1.4-kilometer road in the town that links Barangay Tamar to the main highway in Barangay Poblacion and the groundbreaking of a P12-million, 1.3-kilometer road project in Barangay Calaan in Buldon town.

Hataman said the farm-to-market roads are expected to improve trade and commerce in remote areas of Maguindanao.

ARMM awards P139-M contracts for construction of new school buildings in Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur

(PNA), LAP/NYP/EOF

COTABATO CITY, Aug. 13 (PNA) –- Officials of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) on Wednesday awarded P139 million worth of contacts for the construction of new school buildings in Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur.

The awarding of contracts, done in full view of the public and the local media, was held at the office of the regional governor (ORG-ARMM), a practice started by Regional Governor Mujiv Hataman to ensure transparency and accountability.

Speaking to reporters, Hataman said the project aims to address illiteracy which is blamed for socio-economic and security problems in two adjoining provinces.

Hataman, Regional Public Works Secretary Hadji Emil Sadain, and representatives of three construction firms, signed the contract. The three construction companies bid the lowest quotations for each of the school buildings during a public bidding.

Hataman and Sadain separately lauded the contracting firms, Brima Construction, Stoneline Construction, and the Hexamindz, for sacrificing huge profits just to help build good education for ARMM constituents.

Construction the school buildings will commence this month.

In a briefing, Sadain said Brima Construction will build 110 school buildings, worth P90.4 million, in Lanao del Sur while the The Stoneline Construction and the Hexamindz will construct 43, and 59 schools in Maguindanao, with P43.8 million, and P45.5 million allocation each, respectively.

Earlier in the morning, Hataman, Sadain, and the ARMM’s Agriculture secretary, Makmod Mending, Jr., led the launching of road concreting projects in Maguindanao’s Buldon and Talayan towns.

ARMM also contracted the Hi-Tri Construction firm to facilitate the concreting of a vital road linking the town proper of Kabuntalan town, to Barangay Taviran in Datu Odin Sinsuat, both in the first district of Maguindanao.

A procurement contract was also signed by Hataman and Sadain for the procurement of P26 million worth of road-building equipment with Tiger Motor Sales.

DPWH-ARMM hailed region's top performing agency

By John Unson (philstar.com)

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – The public works department of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) was named ARMM’s “top performer” via a screening process initiated under the Governor’s Initiative on System Assessment (GISA).

The ARMM’s Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH-ARMM) was one of more than 30 line agencies and support offices a panel of regional officials evaluated, from June to July 2014, based on the performance enhancement objectives of GISA.

GISA was institutionalized by the present ARMM administration to ensure efficient governance and delivery of services to the region’s Muslim, Christian and lumad sectors.

ARMM’s regional executive secretary, lawyer Laisa Alamia, told reporters that it was for the DPWH-ARMM’s effective and transparent implementation of costly infrastructure projects, and stringent handling of its coffers that the agency topped the list of efficient departments and support offices under the Office of the Regional Governor (ORG).

The ORG, touted as ARMM’s “Little Malacañang,” exercises ministerial control over different agencies and departments whose functions and powers were devolved by the national government to the region, as prescribed by its charter, the Republic Act 9054.

Alamia said it was for the management innovations, jointly introduced by ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman and Regional Public Works Secretary Hadji Emil Sadain into the agency’s bureaucracy, that hastened the accomplishment of its expected targets from early 2012 until July this year.

The DPWH-ARMM generated almost P300 million-worth of savings in the past two years, enabling the agency to procure costly road-building equipment for its component provincial district engineering offices in Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, both in mainland Mindanao, and the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

The central office of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) had earlier lauded the DPWH-ARMM for having saved a big amount of state funds it received from the DBM in the past two years.

The DPWH-ARMM also got a high performance grade for its having either constructed new, or rehabilitated a total of 524.4 kilometers of old road networks, out of a P7.5 billion budget for 2012 and 2013.

Norkhalila Mae Mambuay-Campong, ARMM’s cabinet secretary, told reporters the GISA performance assessment process, which the regional departments and support offices underwent, was premised on a rating parameter of 50 percent completeness and consistency, 20 percent readiness, 15 percent attendance and participation, and 15 percent response capability during the actual panel evaluation.

Campong said next to the DPWH-ARMM are the Regional Board of Investments and the Department of Science and Technology as the region’s top performers.

Maguindanao police officer brings honor to PNP-ARMM after being named Metrobank's COPS awardee

(PNA), FPV/NYP/EOF

CAMP SK PENDATUN, Maguindanao, Aug. 11 (PNA) – Police authorities in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Monday lauded Police Senior Superintendent Rodelio Jocson for having been awarded one of the 2014 Country’s Outstanding Police Officers in Service (COPS).

Chief Supt. Noel Delos Reyes, PNP-ARMM regional director, said the achievement of Senior Supt. Jocson, Maguindanao police provincial director, should serve as an inspiration to other police officers and men in the ARMM.

He will be honored when the PNP-ARMM celebrates its 113th Police Service anniversary here on August 18 with Justice Marvic Leonen as guest of honor and speaker.

Other police officials assigned in the PNP-ARMM regional office in Camp SK Pendatun and in the ARMM provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi will also receive separate recognition.

Celebrating PNP’s more than a century of serving and protecting the people, Delos Reyes will give awards to deserving individuals who displayed high sense of responsibility and professionalism that significantly contributed to the triumph and accomplishment of the PRO ARMM mission, vision and mandated task.

This year’s theme is “Pulisya Kaagapay and Mamamayan para sa Kaunlaran.”

Jocson and other awardees received the recognition during ceremonies held in Camp Crame, Quezon City recently.


ARMM’s hog production stirs viral satires

By Ali G. Macabalang

Cotabato City – A viral of satires evolved from a purported government report that the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) through its Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) produced a total of 14,615 metric tons of hogs in 2013.

The report was presented by DAF-ARMM Secretary Makmod Mending Jr. as part of his agency’s “major accomplishments” last year during a recent midyear inter-agency assessment meeting presided by ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman in Davao City.

Other parts of Mending’s report claimed that the ARMM’s agriculture sector received rice achievers’ award for gaining a 13 percent production increase, bested other regions in cassava production, the Top 3 in coffee and oil palm production, Top 4 in corn production, Top 2 in durian production, and Top 1 in lanzones production; among others.

Evaluators at the midyear assessment meeting rated DAF-ARMM fourth in the pool of Top Five performing regional line agencies, which showed the ARMM’s Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) led by Engineer Emil K. Sadain as Number 1 for the nth time, it was learned.

Social media nitizens, including non-Muslim journalists, said the DAF-ARMM accomplishment reports would have been “very impressive” had it not been for the interpolation about hog production.

Dozens of nitizens, including Christian journalists, career professionals, and businessmen expressed surprise how some 14,615 metric tons (equivalent to more than 14 million kilograms) had been raised and produced in the ARMM last year without being detected.

The purported BAS report, however, did not pinpoint specific place or areas in the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi, and the cities of Marawi and Lamitan that have been producing hogs, which is haram (forbidden among Muslims).

ARMM honors top performing line agencies

(PNA), JBP/NYP/EOF

COTABATO CITY, Aug. 9 (PNA) –- Five government line agencies in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) were chosen as top performing agencies, giving them recognition for other agencies to emulate, an ARMM official on Saturday said.

The recognition came after the three day mid-year assessment conference held in Davao City that ended Friday.

ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman identified the top agencies as the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) headed by Regional Secretary Emil Sadain, Regional Board of Investments (RBOI) chaired by lawyer Ishak Mastura, Department of Science and Technology (DOST) headed by Regional Secretary Myrah Ali and Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) headed by lawyer Makmod Mending Jr. and Department of Education (DepEd), headed by Sec. Jamar Kulayan.

Hataman said reforms and transparency instituted in DPWH-ARMM led to more projects and savings of more than Php2 billion while the RBOI made the region as investor-friendly destination, recording a Php2.5 billion investments during the first six months of 2014.

The DOST-ARMM, on the other hand, implemented projects that benefited poor communities in the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

Because of its projects that made the region’s agriculture sector made waves and improved its productivity, the DAF-ARMM was recognized.

After the three day mid-year assessment and evaluation, Hataman said most of the agencies have completed their projects as scheduled.

Hataman said his vision of ensuring the region is ready for the upcoming Bangsamoro government as a result of the government peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) remains.

He urged other agencies of the region to take appropriate steps to reach their targets even as he expressed confidence all the projects aimed to benefit poor communities in the region are realized by year-end.

DENR, Maguindanao LGU to plant bamboos on riversides to prevent floods

(Daily Zamboanga Times)

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources and Maguindanao’s provincial government have started campaigning for massive planting of bamboos on the banks of rivers in the province that overflow and inundate riverside enclaves during rainy days.

The purpose of planting bamboos along the rivers criss-crossing Maguindanao is to prevent perennial flooding in its lowlands and the scouring of riverbanks and surroundings of swamps that connect to the nearby 220,000-hectare Liguasan Delta.

Bamboos, of the Bambuseae tall grass specie, have deep penetrating roots that can suck and store rain water and, in effect, prevent erosion and flooding during the rainy season.

Forester Kahal Kedtag, regional DENR secretary of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), said thick bamboo foliages are also natural habitats for wild animals and insects that prey on harmful farm pests.

Kedtag said they now have thousands of bamboo seedlings in a nursery in Datu Odin Sinsuat town, ready for distribution to farmers in riverside agricultural enclaves. He said the massive planting of bamboos along rivers in Maguindanao is a priority program of the present ARMM administration.

“It can help protect the banks of the rivers from erosion and, at the same time, provide thick foliage as protective cover for open fields that are prone to erosion which floods and strong winds can cause,” Kedtag said.

Kedtag said their efforts are being complemented by the office of Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu, which is also advocating for planting of bamboos along rivers, aside from its continuing dispersal of free rubber and oil palm seedlings to Moro, Christian and indigenous Lumad farmers in the province.

Kedtag said propagation of rubber trees is a good “re-greening process” for areas ravaged by highland corn farmers using “slash-and-burn” farming technique.

Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu, in an emailed statement, said the provincial government is keen on dredging heavily-silted rivers with a modern mechanized dredger, which they intend to procure through a bank loan, and on planting of bamboos and Vetiver grass on riverbanks to ensure the efficiency of their flood control efforts.

The Vetiver grass (Chrysopogon Zizanioides) grows thickly and has roots that can penetrate as deep as three meters, from ground surface down, that can durably bind soil, rocks, and gravel formations together.

Maguindanao residents have repeatedly experienced in recent months the worst flashfloods in the province, spawned by heavy rains that caused the Liguasan Delta to overflow and inundate dozens of barangays in the province.

Most of the frequently flooded rivers in Maguindanao are tributaries of the now shallow, silted Rio Grande de Mindanao — the downspout of watershed streams and brooks flowing downstream from hinterlands in Bukidnon, North Cotabato, Maguindanao and South Cotabato — that drains at the Moro Gulf in the west coast of Cotabato City.

“Bamboo farming can also provide our farmers with extra income. A bamboo tree, in fact, is also called ‘tree of life,’ just like the coconut tree, because of its many uses in engineering works. Bamboo farms are also sources of young bamboo shoots that are edible and nutritious,” Mangudadatu said.

Planting of bamboos along rivers and in surroundings of marshes in Central Mindanao was pioneered by the rank-and-file personnel of the Army’s 602nd Brigade which is based in Carmen town in North Cotabato.

Units of the 602nd Brigade, led by its commander, Col. Alan Arrojado, started planting bamboo seedlings in low-lying areas near the Liguasan Delta early this year in support of the Philippine Army and DENR’s environmental protection thrusts.

ARMM's port authority announces record-high collections

By Noel Y. Punzalan [(PNA), CTB/NYP/EOF]

COTABATO CITY, Aug. 7 (PNA) -- The Regional Ports and Management Authority in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) on Thursday announced it reached a record-high collection of P4.9 million for the first semester of this year, officials said.

It was the highest revenue ever for the six-month period and more than double that of last year’s P2.4 million revenue take.

Hanie Bud, RPMA general manager, said the increase can be attributed to improved implementation of port dues and the cooperation of port users and other clientele, reflecting on their overall management.

“We will likely exceed our target collection for this year by as much as 100 percent based on the present trend,” Bud told reporters.

RPMA had earlier projected a total collection of P6 million for this year.

In 2013, the agency generated a P5.4 million-collection from the three base ports and five sub-ports it oversees.

Established in 2002, RPMA is the sole Government Owned and Controlled Corporation (GOCC) in the ARMM that contributed largely to the region’s coffers.

“We are mandated to effect reforms so in two years’ time, we generated a P10 million trust fund apart from our regular remittance to the Office of the Regional Treasury,” said Bud.

Bud said aside from increased revenue generation, they have enhanced port facilities and passenger terminals in the region that included the installation of improved security and data information system management.

“Major base ports and sub-ports were provided with computers for technical enhancement,” he added.

RPMA operates the base ports in Jolo, Sulu, Bongao, Tawi-Tawi and Lamitan City, Basilan, and sub-ports in Siasi in Sulu, Maluso in Basilan, and Mapun, Sitangkai and Sibutu in Tawi-Tawi.

It also exercises regulatory powers in six private ports and wharves in the region.

ARMM health situation improves

(PR)

HEALTH situation in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm) has improved, a health official said.

The Armm used to be rated lowest in health standards, but things have taken a turn for the better, thanks to the reform initiatives introduced by the present administration led by its regional governor Mujiv Hataman.

“I am confident that the health situation in Armm is on the right track,” said the region’s Health secretary Dr. Kadil Sinolinding Jr.

Contributions made by health workers in the region and the support of autonomous regional government, are the factors that brought about the surprising performance, Sinolinding said.

Lower MMR, IMR

For many years, Armm has the highest rate in cases of maternal and infant mortality.

In 2008, there were 245 mothers in the region who died during childbirth per 100,000 live births. Just last year, the maternal mortality rate (MMR) has significantly dropped to 66, even better than the national average of 152.

The infant mortality rate (IMR) or the number of deaths of infants under one year old per one thousand live births has likewise improved significantly. In 2008, the IMR was pegged at 55, but in 2013it was down to only 16.

“The ARMM pioneered techniques which greatly reduced the IMR and MMR without the use of very sophisticated machines,” said Sinolinding.

He said that intensified interventions especially in the third stage of labor among pregnant woman, also known as Active Management of Third Stage Labor (AMTFL) and Essential Intra-partum Newborn Care (EINC) are the pioneer interventions employed by healthcare workers in the region which significantly reduced the MMR and IMR respectively.

AMTFL and EINC are vertically implemented from hospitals to barangay health stations.

“The data of DOH-Armm is used nationwide for the said interventions,” Sinolinding said proudly.

Sinolinding, who took the reigns as DOH-Armm chief in 2010, said the record low rates are the result of deployment of additional health personnel, rehabilitation and construction of health infrastructures, delivery of equipment and enhancement of skills through training.

Healthcare personnel

Additional jobs in the government translate into more accomplishments and improvement in the delivery of basic social services.

In ARMM, there is an utmost need for community healthcare workers as thousands will benefit from the services they provide.

As an answer to this, additional healthcare workers were deployed to far-flung areas in the region without access to such services.

To date, a total of 600 midwives, close to two thousand barangay health workers, 743 nurses and an additional eleven physicians were installed in various parts of Armm.

In 2011, Sinolinding said 300 midwives were hired under the region-exclusive Midwives in Every Communities in ARMM (MECA) program. The following year, an additional 300 midwives were deployed.

“We are very thankful to the Department of Budget Management for granting DOH-ARMM’s request for additional midwife items,” said Sinolinding.

To further enhance their skills, midwives under the MECA program were trained by the United States Agency for International Development (US-AID) for technical and logistical supervision.

“I am very proud to say that out of the one thousand five hundred deliveries this year, there was zero maternal death,” said Sinolinding.

As for the nurses, this year alone, there were 743 nurses hired under the Registered Nurses for Health Enhancement Local Services (RN HEALS). This is 43 nurses more compared to 2011.

A dearth of rural health physicians in ARMM is a common knowledge. To address the lack of doctors in remote and poor towns of the region, an additional 11 physicians were hired.

They joined the other 20 rural health doctors in far-flung areas of Armm hired in 2011 under the Doctors to the Barrios program.

Health Infrastructures

According to the DOH-ARMM chief, in 2010 there were only 95 rural health units (RHU) in the region, 23 short to the 118 towns of ARMM.

Each municipality is supposed to have one RHU and that is what the DOH-ARMM is working hard on, Sinolinding added.

During the Hataman administration, an additional eight RHU’s, 182 barangay health stations (BHU) and three more hospitals are being constructed all under the Health Facilities Enhancement Program (HFEP) of DOH-Armm.

HFEP is a P164.179 million program sustained by the Transition Investment Support Program (TISP) for Armm.

“TISP was also used to repair 26 DOH hospitals in the region including 2 military hospitals namely Camp Siongco Station and Camp Brigadier General Salipada Pendatun Hospital,” said Sinolinding.

Medical Equipment

To improve the quality of healthcare services, the local Health department distributed medical equipment and facilities to selected hospitals in the region.

HFEP has another P87.754 million allotted for the acquisition of medical equipment,

“Matagal na naming inaantay na mga doctors at health managers ang mga karagdagang medical equipment at facilities na ngayon lamang naibigay,” said Dr. Elizabeth Samama, Chief of Hospital of Buluan District Hospital (BDH) in Buluan, Maguindanao.

BDH is one of the hospitals in Armm that received medical equipment and facilities under HFEP. DOH-Armm handed them over incubators, ultrasound machine, sterilizer and blood bank refrigerator.

Samama said that the equipment given to their hospital is a great help for them achieve the universal health care for all.

“For us doctors in public service, our morale was boosted because of these,” she said.

Some of the major equipment delivered to various district and municipal hospitals in the region were x-ray machines, defibrillator, ECG machine, mechanical bed, generator set and land and sea ambulances.

ARMM-HELPS

Unprecedented in the history of the region, the autonomous regional government adopted a convergence program called Armm-HELPS February of last year.

ARMM-HELPS or Health, Education, Livelihood, Peace and Governance, and Synergy is a banner program of the reform- oriented present leadership that targets to deliver basic social services to underserved communities in the region.

It focuses on major interventions that will bring the services of the regional government closer to its constituents.

ARMM- HELPS is implemented by the line agencies clustered in health, education, livelihood, peace and governance and synergy.

“One of our top priorities is an improved health care program,” said Regional Governor Hataman.

Thus, all of these initiatives are closely supervised and monitored by the Office of the Regional Governor to ensure its achievement in line with the reform agenda.

The journey towards health successes in Armm has not been an easy road. DOH-ARMM has come a long way. But with its success stories backed by the unqualified support to health by the autonomous government, it does not come as a surprise that the health situation in the once-most notorious region in the country has never been this good.

ARMM implements a 1:1 gun to cop ratio

By Dennis Carcamo (philstar.com)

MANILA, Philippines - After discovering the unequal distribution of firearms to its personnel, the police regional office in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is now strictly implementing a policy to rationalize the issuance of mission-essential equipment to line units.

Earlier, an internal audit showed multiple issuance of firearms to personnel, even while there are some personnel who have yet to be given their guns.

In a report to Philippine National Police chief, Director General Alan Purisima, Chief Superintendent Noel Delos Reyes, PRO-ARMM director, said the rationalized firearms distribution policy aims to ensure 100 percent fill-up of operational requirements for small arms and light weapons, particularly in maneuver units and frontline police stations by strictly implementing the 1:1 firearms distribution policy.

He said that the audit uncovered 228 personnel with more than one issued firearm, prompting authorities to recall a total of 737 issued firearms and re-issue these to other units and personnel as determined by the obtaining threat level and crime situation.

Delos Reyes said the regionwide problem of multiple issuance of firearms was similarly noted at the Sulu Police Provincial Office.

He said that with the full implementation of the 1:1 firearms distribution policy as early as July 13, all 1,223 police personnel of Sulu PPO were already issued individual light weapons- M203 grenade launcher, M16, M14, Browning Automatic Rifle- or small arms such as a shotgun or a handgun.

Delos Reyes clarified independent observations that police forces in Sulu were inadequately equipped to perform anti-terrorism and anti-criminality operations in the province.

He said that personnel of Police Public Safety Company of Sulu PPO were prioritized in the distribution of Class “A” Light Weapons while those assigned to administrative functions were issued small arms.

The same distribution policy was also observed in municipal police stations in the province.

Sulu PPO has 50 Class “A” Light Weapons and 272 small arms on reserve at the Provincial Supply Accountable Office, even as the provincial police is yet to account for 335 firearms listed in its inventory but could not be found, Delos Reyes said.

ARMM conducts mid-year assessment of accomplishments

By Noel Y. Punzalan [(PNA), LAM/NYP]

COTABATO CITY, Aug. 4 (PNA) -- Officials of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) gathered on Monday in Davao City to conduct assessment of its performance during the first six months of 2014, officials said.

”This is a mid-year assessment on accomplishments of ARMM agencies, we do it twice a year, the second being done on year-end,” Lawyer Laisa Alamia, ARMM executive secretary told DXMS Radyo Bida.

”This is in accordance with the ARMM preparation for the transition into the new Bangsamoro government,” she said.

ARMM is preparing for transition to the new political entity that will be established as a result of the 17-year-old GPH-MILF peace process.

”This is heavy meeting, we expect 90 percent of the targets are completed before the transition happened,” Alamia said.

Filipino or Tagalog now dominant language of teaching for Maguindanaons

By Nash B. Maulana (Inquirer Mindanao)

SHARIFF AGUAK, Philippines — Filipino (composed mostly of Tagalog) has emerged the dominant language of teaching in Maguindanao with the Maguindanaon dialect becoming the second choice.

This was what a ranking education official said following the series of dry-runs for the K-12 program conducted by the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao’s Department of Education.

Mariam Kawit, Maguindanao schools division head, said over the weekend that this could be because only 30 percent of the teaching personnel were Maguindanaons or those belonging to other tribes but were able to speak the dialect and the rest were Christians and non-Maguindanaon speakers.

Since all of them could speak Filipino, Kawit said the national language emerged as the “dominant dialect” in Maguindanao.

Under the K-12 program of the DepEd, a dominant dialect in the locality is chosen as the “mother tongue” or the common medium of instruction in classrooms.

That Filipino is the dominant language in Maguindanao should not come as a big surprise though.

Maguindanaons have been used to importing Tagalog even in their casual household conversations, since the 1950s, Kawit said.

In Cotabato City, for example, one has to get accustomed to how Maguindanaons use Filipino words today as these might sound weird sometimes.

It is normal to hear “magtawid” (cross) or “magpunta” (to go) from those who converse in Filipino instead of the correct form, “tumawid” and “pupunta.”

Sentences such as “Huwag na pati ka mag-asa (Don’t hope too much),” or “Sabi ko na kasi huwag ka (I told you so or I told you not to do it)” might also cause discomfort to Filipino grammarians.

Unlike in other Muslim-dominated provinces of the ARMM, Maguindanaon officials would deliver their speeches, mainly in Filipino.

But why Filipino instead of English?

Hamid Uka, a renowned Maguindanao educator, once said there have been many factors, including the addiction of Maguindanaons to Filipino movies and comics.

He said political clans could also be instrumental in the propagation of the language in Maguindanao.

For example, members of the well—respected Sinsuat clan, who ruled who ruled Cotabato City and the then Empire Cotabato Province for decades,

were either reared in Manila or studied there and brought in Filipino as language of their inner social circles.

Foreigners expected to come to Maguindanao for agri projects

(MindaNews)

Local entrepreneurs expect more foreigners to put up more “organic” plantations in Maguindanao following Wednesday’s launching of Asia’s first ever environment-friendly 1,500-hectare banana farm in Ampatuan town.

Bai Sandra Siang, chair of the Muslim Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Kutawato, said the new “all organic” Cavendish banana farm near the site of the infamous November 23, 2009 “Maguindanao Massacre” sounded interesting to their contacts abroad, who learned about it via social media.

Siang said what is also fascinating about the banana venture is the involvement in its establishment of clerics belonging to its main operating entity, the Al-Mujahidun Agro Resources and Development, Inc. (AMARDI).

AMARDI officials told reporters, during the launching of the banana farm Wednesday morning, that they 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 Barangay Masalay in Ampatuan town.

The term halal is an Arabic description for food that Muslims can eat, free from anything “haram” (forbidden) such as pork, alcohol and toxic ingredients.

“We in the local business community shall support this capital intensive project. This will benefit the Moro communities in the municipality of Ampatuan,” Siang said.

Businessman Pete Marquez, a senior official of various business clubs in Central Mindanao, said the introduction of large-scale organic banana farming in the province by the AMARDI and its two multinational benefactors, the Univex and the Delinanas of the Del Monte fruit firm, is one big stride for the environment-protection thrusts of local groups and the national government.

“Add to that the initial employment by that plantation of 2,000 Moro workers. That is good for the normalization and peace restoration efforts of the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front,” Marquez pointed out.

Marquez said it is apparently for the fragile peace now in Maguindanao that Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu succeeded in convincing the capitalists of the 1,500-hectare banana plantation to invest in Ampatuan, tarnished by the politically-motivated Maguindanao Massacre that left 58 people dead.

Mangudadatu had told reporters that it was for the curiosity of foreign traders on how they can help change the image of Ampatuan town that ushered them into the municipality.

Also present in last Wednesday’s 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.

Siang, Marquez, and officials of the Regional Business Council of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao said they are delighted with how the provincial government, the AMARDI, and the Army’s 6th Infantry Division are cooperating in securing the surroundings of the banana plantation.

Brig. Gen. Edmundo Pangilinan, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, who was one of the special guests to Wednesday’s event at the project site, said the joint security efforts of Mangudadatu, the 6th ID and AMARDI will be coordinated with the joint ceasefire committee of the government and the MILF.

Pangilinan said the 6th ID is obliged to help secure the project since most of the lands rented by AMARDI for banana growing are owned by either members, or supporters of the MILF.

“This is an opportunity for the military to show that it wants the cordiality between the government and the MILF nurtured and sustained, in support of the Mindanao peace process,” Pangilinan said.

ARMM to hasten infra projects

(MindaNews)

ZAMBOANGA CITY (MindaNews) – The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is accelerating the implementation of infrastructure projects to ensure its completion within the year or by the first quarter of 2015.

ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman said these include the completion of the circumferential roads in Basilan and in Lake Lanao.

President Benigno S. Aquino III highlighted the Basilan circumferential road during his State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday.

The President said the circumferential road will “soon be completed.”

Hataman said only about 10 to 12 kilometers of the road remained unpaved.

There was no mention about the status of the Lake Lanao circumferential road.

Hataman disclosed that a portion of the Basilan circumferential road concreting was funded through the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).

But the governor clarified “it was already completed” when the Supreme Court declared some provisions of the DAP as unconstitutional.

He said he had met with concerned ARMM officials and contractors and discussed how they could accelerate the completion of the infrastructure projects.

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