Autonomous Region Muslim Mindanao News January 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.

Maguindanao supports call for BIFF to join peace process actively

By Noel Y. Punzalan and Edwin O. Fernandez [(PNA), SCS/NYP/EOF]

COTABATO CITY, Jan. 31 (PNA) -- Political leaders and residents of Maguindanao are supporting the call of the government peace panel for the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) to take an active part in the Mindanao peace process, officials said Friday.

Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu said there is no other local government in the country that desires for peace than Maguindanao and its people.

Prof. Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, chair of the government panel negotiating peace with Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), in an emailed statement Thursday said that the BIFF can be effective in the quest for peace if it joins with the process through diplomatic means and not through violence.

“We ask them to listen to the plea of their own brothers and sisters to give peace a chance,” Ferrer said.

Mangudadatu said it is also important for the MILF to use its influence to bring back the BIFF to the mainstream and help build a community of peaceful loving citizens that resolve issues through the negotiating table and not through the barrel of guns.

Due to ideological differences, BIFF founding chair Omra Ameril Kato broke away from the MILF in 2008 following the botched signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD)

"I believe that there is still a possibility that Kato and the MILF can reconcile and pursue common good of the Moro people," Mangudadatu said.

“If the status quo remains, it’s the civilians that suffer the brunt of conflict happening now," he added.

The provincial governor also said that he is certain Muslim religious leaders in the ranks of the MILF can convince the BIFF to change its course and toe the line the MILF took toward achieving peace in the island.

Mangudadatu added that most, if not all of those directly affected by the armed conflict in Maguindanao, are either relatives, wives and children of MILF or BIFF fighters.

"It pains me to see our people dislocated, get hungry and live in a very unhealthy condition in evacuation sites," he said.

Believing in the sincerity of both panels, Mangudadatu said he see no reason why conflict should still happen in the province when, all but the BIFF, are supportive of it.

“Maguindanao political leaders are hoping that sectors opposed to the peace process will gradually realize that the so-called `Moro issue’ can never be resolved through an armed uprising, for conflicts will only make Moro communities become poorer and poorer,” Mangudadatu said at a news conference.

Mangudadatu is worried the recent conflict will again destroy the socioeconomic programs his administration has envisioned and started to implement in Maguindanao's 36 municipalities.

"These programs are for our people. But how can they benefit from it if armed conflict continues," he said.

Near completion of GPH-MILF peace talks lauded

By John Unson (philstar.com)

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - The euphoria over the completion of the normalization annex to the Framework Agreement on Bangsamoro has not been dampened by the hostilities in Maguindanao, where government forces and members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters are fighting each other since Monday dawn.

Hundreds came out on Wednesday to join a series of rallies in different parts of Central Mindanao to show support to the on-going peace talks between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, now in its 17th year since it started on January 7, 1997.

Senator Teofisto “TG” Guingona, in a statement emailed to journalists, said the crafting of the normalization annex, and the completion of the addendum on Bangsamoro territorial waters, which was also added to FAB, was one step closer to lasting peace in Southern Mindanao.

“I believe this is a major step towards achieving our aspiration for peace and stability in Mindanao. Such environment of peace and stability has become even more crucial as we move forward to rebuild many parts of Mindanao that have been adversely affected by the series of natural calamities which hit that portion of our country,” Guingona said.

The governors of Maguindanao and North Cotabato, both in Central Mindanao, and host to major camps of the MILF, also lauded the signing of the last of the four annexes to the FAB.

Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu said the normalization process will enable local government units to pursue their livelihood and education projects for marginalized beneficiary-communities in support of the socio-economic objectives of the FAB.

“No one from among us, political leaders in Maguindanao, will stand against any effort to peacefully address the `Mindanao Moro issue’ that has been hounding us for many decades now,” Mangudadatu told The Star via text last Wednesday.

Mangudadatu said his administration has started its province-level normalization initiative as early as 2011 through livelihood and education programs to help peasant communities and enable deserving students to finish their studies.

The business community in Central Mindanao also hailed as “positive development” the crafting of the fourth and last annex to the FAB.

“Improvements in the security situation in Mindanao will usher in more investments and generate employment for our Moro and non-Moro labor force,” commented Pete Marquez, a senior member of a local business organization comprised of Moro, Filipino-Chinese, and Cotabato-based Christian traders.

The North Cotabato provincial government is optimistic that the now 17-year peace overture between the government and the MILF will gain more momentum with the completion of the last of the four annexes to the FAB, the basis for the establishment of a new Bangsamoro political entity in Southern Mindanao.

The FAB is comprised of four annexes -- on transitional arrangement and modalities, on wealth sharing, on power sharing, and on normalization -- which the two panels are to use as guides in the setting up of a politically and administratively empowered MILF-led Bangsamoro entity.

The new self-governing mechanism will replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which covers Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, which are both in mainland Mindanao, and the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

“Now we can see, this early, a fruitful completion of the peace talks,” North Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza said on Tuesday.

ARMM gov assures enough funds for relief operation in Maguindanao

(PNA), LAP/NYP/EOF

COTABATO CITY, Jan. 29 (PNA) -- Due to good fiscal management, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao has enough funds for the relief operations for internally displaced persons in Maguindanao following military's police action versus renegade Moro rebel group, the ARMM chief executive said today.

ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman on Wednesday said his office has close to P200 million for relief operations, belying reports that the regional government is financially incapable of funding its relief operations.

Earlier, ARMM officials said the region might be financially incapable to launch relief missions in Maguindanao due to depleted funds after the region conducted relief missions in typhoon-ravaged Visayas region last year.

The announcement was made as the number of displaced persons in the Army offensive versus outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in three Maguindanao towns rose to more than 10,000.

Hataman was reacting to a published report saying the regional government had ran out of relief funds for helping communities affected by the Zamboanga incident last year and the relief mission in Tacloban and Samar.

“It could be the ARMM’s social welfare department that temporarily ran out of funds and not the ARMM regional government in general. I still have about P200 million for relief operations and for other special expenditures,” Hataman told a news conference here Wednesday.

Hataman said the P200 million-worth special purpose fund (SPF), earmarked for relief operations, scholarship grants, and assistance to state-run hospitals in the cities of Zamboanga and Cotabato are intact and open to public scrutiny.

ARMM Vice Governor, Haroun Al-Rashid Lucman, was earlier quoted in a report as saying that regional funds had been drained by their relief missions for victims of last year’s siege in several barangays in Zamboanga City.

Lucman is also the ARMM social welfare secretary.

"It’s the DSWD that got drained of its funds, not the ORG (office of the regional governor),” Hataman said.

To show ORG has enough funds, Hataman said the inter-agency Humanitarian Emergency Assistance and Relief Team (HEART), had immediately responded to emergency in Maguindanao by establishing a coordinating and operation center inside the ARMM compound in Cotabato City.

HEART also sent personnel and emergency food stuff to Maguindanao's beleaguered towns on the day the people evacuated.

ARMM is composed of the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

203 new nurses in Maguindanao up for deployment

(PNA), FFC/NYP/DIANA ROSE U. DIMAANO-OJT

COTABATO CITY, Jan. 28 (PNA) -- Two hundred three new nurses accepted by the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) through the Nurse Deployment Project (NDP) would be fielded soon across the province’s 37 municipalities.

ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman personally led the screening panel of the new nurses last Jan. 20-21 together with ARMM Health Secretary Dr. Kadil Sinolinding Jr. based on the applicants’ academic standing, competence and willingness to be assigned in any part of the region.

Those who qualified as Nurse 1 to the two-year program would receive a monthly compensation of P18,549 under a salary grade 11. The amount is P10,000 higher than the old Nurses Heal program that ended in 2013.

“The nurses’ contract is renewable every six months depending on their performance evaluation,” said Janette Dimakuta, NDP-ARMM assistant project coordinator.

Apart from Maguindanao province, Dimakuta said the region needs a total of 800 other nurses with a target quota of 83 for Tawi-tawi; Lanao del Sur – 254; Basilan - 86; and Sulu - 120.

Screening for new nurses in the four other provinces is up for completion next month.

“Successful program applicants would be fielded in areas that need more health service providers like district hospitals, barangay health stations, rural health units and birthing homes in the province,” she stressed.

The NDP aims to improve local health systems and support the Philippines’ attainment of Universal Health Care or “Kalusugang Pangkalahatan.”

The initiative further renders employment opportunities to nurses in the country.

DSWD-ARMM to hire more staff

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

MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur, Jan. 27 (PIA) --- The Department of Social Welfare and Development in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (DSWD-ARMM) announced that it is in need of reform-minded, dynamic, competent and deserving personnel for Contract of Service positions.

The DSWD-ARMM Office of the Assistant Secretary for Operations (ASECO) said it will be hiring one Community Development Officer II with salary grade 15, one Program and Project Specialist II with salary grade 15, and two Field Operations Assistant I with salary grade 9 to be assigned in Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, respectively.

Applicants for Community Development Officer II must possess a Bachelor’s degree in any of the following fields: Community Development, Economics, Management, Public Administration, Business Administration, Agricultural Development, Social Work, Sociology and other related social sciences; computer literate; with at least two years of relevant work experience in community social works; proficient and capable in organizing, facilitation and capability-building strategies, community welfare, livelihood and development prospects; and with multi-dialect communications skills, among others.

Program and Project Specialist II applicants must possess a Bachelor’s degree in any of the following fields: Community Development, Social Work, Management, Public Administration, Business Administration, Agricultural Development or Sociology; computer literate; with at least two years relevant work experience in community planning and development services; with proficient knowledge and background in community infrastructure, livelihood or development programs and projects and basic procurement laws; and with multi-dialect communications skills, among others.

Applicants for Field Operations Assistant I, on the other hand, must possess a Bachelor’s degree in any of the following fields: Community Development, Economics, Management, Public Administration, Business Administration, Agricultural Development, Social Work, Sociology or other related social sciences; must be computer literate; with at least one year relevant work experience in community social works; with proficient knowledge and capabilities in organizing, facilitation and capability-building strategies on community welfare, livelihood and development prospects; must possess a background in identifying opportunities for project development and willing to assist in drafting proposals; and a resident of the province where he/she will be assigned, among others.

Qualified applicants are advised to submit application letter, duly accomplished PDS with 2x2 ID picture in white background, certified true copy of diploma, transcript of records and other necessary credentials; service records from previous jobs; and certificates of relevant trainings/seminars to the DSWD-ARMM on or before February 1, 2014.

Walk-in applicants with their complete application papers should proceed to the Office of ASECO at DSWD-ARMM, RESWAD Center, Brgy. Semba, DOS, Maguindanao.

Applications may also be sent through email and/or facebook page at dswdarmm.aseco@gmail.com andhttps://www.facebook.com/DSWD.ASECO, respectively.

For applications sent through the internet, applicants are advised to wait for acknowledgment within 24 hours from the said email address and/or page.

DepEd-ARMM ready for transition to Bangsamoro govt

(PNA), PDS/NYP/EOF

COTABATO CITY, Jan. 26 (PNA) –-The Department of Education in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is now prepared for a smooth transition to the new Bangsamoro government with agency’s addressing the issue on classroom gaps by 2016, officials said on Sunday.

“There are 400 school-less communities around the region. Initially, we were able to build 1,110 learning centers in these areas while we are evaluating the possibility of constructing additional school buildings,” said Jamar Kulayan, the region’s education secretary.

Kulayan made the statement after the signing of the final annex to the Bangsamoro Framework Agreement between Manila and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

ARMM forms majority of the geographic Muslim dominated communities that will be included in the proposed Bangsamoro government as a result of the peace talks.

“Hopefully by 2016, the issue on lack of classrooms will be addressed,” he said.

Kulayan said of the target 1,032 new classrooms for 2012, close to 700 are now 100-percent completed or around 65 percent of the target.

In 2013, Kulayan said, there are ongoing 1,000 classroom rehabilitations and 500 new classroom constructions.

Kulayan said the purging of ghost teachers and pupils has helped curb the problem on teacher and classroom shortage and allowed financial resources to be spent accordingly.

ARMM is composed of the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi and the cities of Marawi and Lamitan where 800,000 students trooped to various schools in the region.

Reforms have been instituted since Regional Governor Mujiv Hataman assumed office in 2011 as acting regional governor and later as elected regional chief executive.

The reforms led to the savings of millions of funds which ARMM education officials used for other purposes like procurement of school facilities.

Thousands of “ghost teachers” who have been receiving salaries without serving the education department have been “deleted.”

Aside from DepEd, considered to be among the leading agencies in the regional bureaucracy known as graft-ridden and center of graft and corruption, ARMM leadership also “cleansed” other departments like public works and health departments.

Maguindanao begins preparations for Sagayan fest

By John Unson (philstar.com)

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines -- Local officials, the police and military are initiating security plans for the February 1-14 Sagayan Festival in the province.

The festival, a yearly event, also seeks to celebrate the fragile peace now in what used to be a dangerous Maguindanao, and as thanksgiving for the gains of the peace talks between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu, officials of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division and its component-brigades discussed Friday in Buluan town the security measures needed to ward off saboteurs, and to protect guests including dignitaries, prospective investors, and national officials.

The Sagayan is a centuries-old ethnic Maguindanon "war-and-courtship dance" depicting the group’s inclination to be at peace always with non-Maguindanaons, regardless of their religions and racial identities. Sagayan dancers also depict in their steps the readiness of native Maguindanaons to defend at all cost their lands, race, and Islam from any aggression.

Mangudadatu told reporters this year’s Sagayan Festival will also highlight the political and investment climate in Maguindanao in recent years.

No single armed encounter has been recorded between government forces and MILF guerrillas in any town in the province in the past four years.

Investors, among them Puerto Rican capitalists, and Malaysian merchants, have been frequenting the province lately in preparation for their planned investment in Cavendish banana plantations, and oil palm farms, respectively.

Maguindanao is a known bastion of the MILF, where it has dozens of enclaves scattered in the area's 36 towns.

“We have so much to celebrate and thank for,” Mangudadatu told reporters.

Col. Dickson Hermoso, spokesman of 6th ID, said the division is ready to provide a battalion of soldiers to secure the festival.

Most activities during the festival will also showcase Maguindanaon traditions, particularly those pertaining to camaraderie, hospitality, and the resilience of its residents.

The term Maguindanaon means “people of the perennially flooded plains,” or the Moro communities in the marshy ilod (downstream area) and raya (upper delta) of Central Mindanao, around the Liguasan Marsh, which is the world's largest and said to have vast deposits of natural gas and oil.

The Sagayan Festival was pioneered by Mangudadatu after his first election as governor in 2010. The culmination of the festival coincides with the birthday of his spouse, the late Genalyn, one of the 58 people that perished in the November 23, 2009 “Maguindanao Massacre”.

Mangudadatu said he is thankful to the Maguindanao provincial board, led by its presiding chairman, Vice Gov. Lester Sinsuat, for recently drafting a resolution institutionalizing the Sagayan Festival as a yearly event.

The resolution also allocated at least P7 million yearly grant to fund the activity.

Board Member Bobby Katambak, chairman of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan’s committee on appropriations, said the governor, for the purpose of streamlining the use of funds allocated for the annual festival, decided to fuse the celebration with the yearly November 5 to 22 commemoration of the founding anniversary of the province.

Katambak said the provincial board separately allocated P7 million for Maguindanao’s yearly founding anniversary celebration.

Katambak said Maguindanaon folks will start celebrating the fused Sagayan Festival and the founding anniversary of the province in November of 2015.

New Zealand ambassador visits projects in ARMM

By John Unson (philstar.com)

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines - New Zealand Ambassador Reuben Levermore and officials of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao inspected on Friday the development projects of Wellington that are being implemented through the ARMM and the United Nations in impoverished Moro communities in Mamasapano town in the province.

Levermore was accompanied by ARMM Agriculture Secretary Makmod Mending Jr., and Rajendra Aryal, country representative of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in his visit to Mamasapano municipality in the second district of Maguindanao.

New Zealand is funding the implementation of the "Restoring Agricultural Livelihoods in Conflict-Affected Areas in Maguindanao Province of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao," through FAO, and in collaboration with the executive department of ARMM.

The project, now on its third phase since 2011, is aimed at improving the productivity of local peasants.

While in Cotabato City on Friday, Levermore, Aryal and ARMM Vice Gov. Haroun Al-Rashid Lucman signed an agreement for the continued support and efforts of New Zealand, FAO and the ARMM to address poverty and underdevelopment in the province.

Lucman signed the document on behalf of ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman, who had left for Malaysia as an observer of the 43rd exploratory talks between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

The ARMM’s agriculture and fisheries department helps oversee local and foreign agricultural projects in remote areas in the autonomous region, which covers Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur in mainland Mindanao, and the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

"Assistance, in form of development packages and interventions coming from foreign benefactors can be interpreted as a 'vote of confidence' for the Hataman administration, a reform-oriented, peace-loving administration," Mending said.

Levermore told ARMM officials that they are focused on helping improve the quality of life of the marginalized farmers in the province in support of efforts aimed at promoting peace and sustainable development in the area.

ARMM needs aid for people displaced by flashfloods, landslides

By Charlie C. Señase, Germelina Lacorte and Judy Quiros (Inquirer Mindanao)

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao government, which actively helped in the relief operations for “Yolanda”-hit areas in Eastern Visayas and “Pablo”-devastated provinces in Mindanao now faces a serious lack of funds to provide aid to its residents affected by the weather disturbance since January 10, accordig to a regional official.

Haroun Alrashid Lucman, ARMM vice governor, said the regional government’s relief assistance to victims of the Zamboanga siege “have (also) drained us of our resources.”

“There’s a need now for local government units to pitch in and pool our resources in confronting problems on disasters, despite our limitations,” he said.

At least 500 people were affected when strong waves battered villages in Sulu and Maguindanao last week.

In Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao alone, more than 1,000 people had suffered property damage from the strong waves, according to the ARMM’s civil defense office.

Pombaen Karon-Kader, ARMM assistant social welfare secretary, said the dwindling resources were also caused by “the slow response from other local government units in the region.”

She said the regional social welfare office had to take on the role of LGUs, which did not provide immediate assistance to affected areas.

“Considering the importance of `protocol’ in responding to emergencies, the vice governor, the regional disaster team come to the rescue only after local executives and other branches of government in the affected towns had acted,” Lucman said, adding that this had not been the case though.

Kader said even then, the regional government managed to provide limited relief assistance, consisting of food items, used clothing and beddings.

In Davao City, even as Southern Mindanao battled the effects of Tropical Depression “Agaton,” four brand new farm tractors once intended for Pablo-affected areas were being transported to Yolanda-hit areas to help in clearing and land preparation for the next planting season there, Remelyn Recoter, regional director of the Department of Agriculture, said.

“It’s a sort of paying forward, a new thrust of the Department of Agriculture (DA),” she said.

Recoter said when farm rehabilitation efforts started in Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental, farmers there also got aid in the form of tractors lent by other regions.

She also said that some P4 million in savings from the P315-million quick response fund for Pablo would also be reprogrammed for Yolanda-devastated areas.

In Davao Oriental, Governor Corazon Malanyaon said she could not thank Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and the Davao City council enough for the financial aid that the LPA-devastated province got.

Davao del Norte Governor Arturo Uy also said Duterte and his council also sent in similar assistance to LPA-affected areas in his province.

Davao Oriental and Compostela Valley got P2 million each in aid from the Davao City government.

“Duterte and the city council are so kind for being concerned about the suffering of the people of Davao Oriental,” Malanyaon added.

The Davao City government has been very active in sending donations to calamity victims.

During the Bohol quake and the Yolanda’s advent, it was among the first LGUs to provide assistance to disaster victims.

P25-M gov’t road project underway to link 2 agri-towns in Maguindanao

(PNA), PDS/NYP

PARANG, Maguindanao, Jan. 22 (PNA)--Construction began Wednesday on a P25-million road concreting project that would link this town to nearby Barangay Molina, Barira municipality of same province.

Project Engr. Mike Ganduan said the 2.5-kilometer road undertaking is expected to boost trade and commerce in both agricultural towns.

The road could be categorized as provincial road with a specification of a five-meter width and nine inches thickness,” Ganduan said.

Ganduan said the project is set for completion within the next 100 days.

He added that a second phase is in the pipeline, involving a P40-million; four- kilometer road concreting that would stretch directly into the Barira town center.

Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Governor Mujiv Hataman, who led the groundbreaking ceremony of the project on Tuesday, said funding for the purpose was included in last year’s Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan (PAMANA) allotment for the region by the national government.

The program’s main thrust is to improve the delivery of basic government services to depressed communities of the ARMM plunged into instability by the decades-old Moro rebellion.

Peace stakeholders in Mindanao, however, remain optimistic that enduring peace would soon prevail in the island-region with both negotiators from the Aquino administration and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the largest remaining Moro rebel group, determined to resolve ticklish issues that would pave the way for the forging of a final peace accord.

PAMANA is a national government program and framework for peace and development implemented in conflict-affected areas covered by existing peace agreements.

Apart from ARMM, the 2011-2016 program is also implemented in 47 other provinces in the country.

ARMM guv leads screening of Nurse Deployment Program

(PNA), FFC/NYP/EOF

COTABATO CITY, Jan. 21 (PNA) -- Regional Governor Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Tuesday announced he will personally lead the screening committee for Nurse Deployment Program of the Department of Health in the region.

"This is to dispel reports and complaints of favoritism in the selection of nurses of RN-HEALS program," Hataman told reporters amid reports of those landing the nursing works were not qualified.

RN-HEALS stands for Registered Nurses for Health Enhancement and Local Services but starting this year it will be called the NDP or the Nurse Deployment Program.

"I want to personally know the selection process for Maguindanao applicants," Hataman said, adding that he wanted to know whether the applicants are residents of Maguindanao, a licensed nurse and determined to serve.

Hataman also wanted to know if the applicants really passed the assessment and evaluation conducted by the Department of Health.

"Your skills and qualifications are your passes, not recommendation from politicians or anyone," Hataman told the nurse-applicants.

Hataman said he wanted all the processes to be transparent and above board. "This is what we are advocating and it will remain that way," Hataman, who instituted major reforms in the resources rich but graft-ridden regional bureaucracy, said.

Dr. Kadil Sinolinding, ARMM health chief, said the desire of the regional governor to personally supervise the screening process will erase all doubts and misconception about the process.

He assured that Maguindanao applicants have undergone an open to the public evaluation and assessments.

Aside from their qualifications and skills, the nurses applicants must have a certification letter from the local government unit to determine and ensure that the aspirant is a legitimate resident of the locality where he will be assigned and deployed.

Nurses under the NDP will have a monthly salary of P18,000 which is higher as compared to nurses who served under the RN-HEALS program.

Of the P18,000, the local government unit where the nurse was to serve will shoulder the P2,000.

Sinolinding said beginning this month, the RN-HEALS will be called Nurse Deployment Program with corresponding guidelines.

The guidelines aims to standardize the implementation of the project, provide framework and strategies, and give direction to the program managers, implementers and other stakeholders.

The main points of the guidelines showed that nurses will be assigned in the conditional cash transfer areas of the Department of Social Welfare and Development; nurses shall be hired on Contract of Services; contract is for 6 months and renewable for a maximum of two years based on a very satisfactory performance; nurses will be awarded certificate of employment after completion of deployment; and, that application is open to all nurses with official and validated PRC license but graduates of RN-HEALS projects will be prioritized.

Civil service protection for ARMM assured by law

By Amir Mawallil (Manila Standard Today)

COTABATO CITY, Maguindanao --- A commission preparing the transition of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) into a Bangsamoro government has assured employees of protection under Civil Service rules, officials said.

Johaira Wahab, chairperson of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC), said compensation, personnel benefits and seniority rights will be protected in the turnover, transfer and operation of devolved functions.

“You will be protected under the Civil Service Law,” Wahab said.

Representatives of government and the Moro National Liberation Front are expected to end negotations this month on the last annex in the peace negotiations and complete the drafting of a Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

ARMM groups the provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu and Tawi-tawi. After Congress passed the Bangsamoro Basic Law, the cities of Lamitan and Marawi will be deemed abolished, and the Bangsamoro Transition Authority will administer the region until the 2016 election.

Sharifa Pearlsia Ali-Dans, Assistant Secretary of the ARMM’s Department of Interior and Local Government, said continuity of government service should be ensured during the transition period.

ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman said his administration will ensure a smooth transition to the new Bangsamoro government.

“We are prepared. All our programs are geared towards having a smooth transition from the ARMM to the new Bangsamoro entity,” Hataman said.

“We also appeal to all stakeholders to support the peace negotiations so that we can move towards its conclusion,” he said.

State of calamity up in Lanao del Sur, 19 towns as Agaton nears

By Frinston Lim, Danilo Adorador III, Chris Panganiban and Germelina Lacorte (Inquirer Mindanao)

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – As Tropical Depression Agaton slowly moved closer to Mindanao, spawning landslides and floods on the island, a province and 19 towns and cities were declared to be under a state of calamity.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said a state of calamity has already been declared in the province of Lanao del Norte, including Iligan City, where rivers overflowed, flooding villages.

The towns of Kapalong, Carmen, Asuncion, New Corella and Tagum in Davao del Norte and the towns of Tarragona, Manay, Caraga, Baganga, Cateel and Boston in Davao Oriental were also declared under a state of calamity.

The same declaration was earlier made in the towns of Sta. Josefa, Sibagat and Bunawan in Agusan del Sur, Butuan City in Agusan del Norte, and the towns of Liang, Tago, San Miguel and Bislig in Surigao del Sur.

The NDRRMC said flooding and landslides caused by continuous rain and strong winds brought by Agaton killed at least 40 people in Mindanao.

The Philippine Information Agency-Surigao del Sur on Sunday said a body was recovered in a river in the town of San Miguel, raising the death toll to 41.

The NDRRMC said the fatalities were reported in Western Mindanao, Northern Mindanao, Davao and Caraga.

More or less 65 people were also hurt while five others were still missing as of Sunday, the NDRRMC added.

The Philippine Atmospherics, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) posted that Agaton would be at 120 kilometers southeast of Davao City on Monday morning and at 60 km south of General Santos City by Tuesday morning.

By Wednesday morning, Agaton would be at 220 km southwest of General Santos City or out of the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR), Pagasa added.

Fearing that Agaton would make landfall in Governor Generoso town in Davao Oriental, the local government unit has already mobilized all resources to prepare residents for possible flooding, landslides and storm surges.

Governor Generoso mayor Vicente Orencia said emergency responders have been placed on standby at the operations center. He said barangay officials have also started to conduct house visits to inform residents to prepare their belongings for possible pre-emptive evacuation.

“We have already advised residents living along the shorelines and landslide area to prepare,” Orencia said.

Evacuation centers in the town have been prepared to accept displaced residents, Orencia said.

On Sunday afternoon, dark clouds hovered over Davao Oriental, bringing in light to moderate rains.

“We are praying that Agaton will just pass by and would not devastate us,” Orencia said.

Several towns, including the typhoon Pablo-devastated towns of Baganga, Cateel and Boston have remained isolated after bridges were destroyed.

In Davao City, Allan Manubay, leader of the Urban Search and Rescue Team 2 of the Central 911, said all responders have been placed on standby to respond to flooding and landslides.

On Sunday afternoon, the Philippine Coast Guard canceled all boat trips from Davao City to Talicud and Kaputian islands in the Island Garden City of Samal, following the 1 p.m. Pagasa advisory putting Davao del Sur and Davao city under storm signal number one because of Tropical Depression Agaton.

The boats plying these routes are considered small and could not withstand big waves and strong wind. However, ferry boat trips plying Sasa port here and Villarica pier in Babak on Samal island, were still allowed at day time but would have to stop at 6 p.m., the advisory said.

Local authorities in Davao del Norte and Compostela Valley have stepped up their disaster readiness as rain clouds hovered these areas amid the threat posed by Agaton.

At least 353 families have also been moved to safer ground in two Compostela Valley towns due to the possibility of flooding and landslides there, officials said.

In Davao del Norte, Gov. Rodolfo del Rosario activated the incident command system on Sunday, as the province was included in areas placed by the state weather bureau under public storm Signal No. 1.

All rivers in Davao del Norte were still having normal water levels as of 11 a.m. Sunday, except Saug, which traverses Asuncion and Kapalong towns, with a 0.8 meter water level increase.

Some 321 families from flood-prone and landslide-susceptible areas in Compostela town in Compostela Valley Province have fled to the schools and the municipal gymnasium overnight, said Vice Mayor Reynaldo Castillo Jr.

Compostela Valley Gov. Arturo Uy has declared the cancellation of classes in all levels throughout the province on Monday, even as disaster authorities were in constant monitoring of water levels in major rivers there.

Policemen across the 11 municipalities were also put on alert for possible landslides and flooding, said Senior Superintendent Camilo Cascolan, Compostela Valley police chief.

In the Caraga Region, moderate to strong wind continued to lash out Surigao del Norte and Dinagat provinces since Tropical Depression Agaton began its onslaught Saturday evening.

In Surigao City, roads are strewn with uprooted trees and GI sheets.

Authorities reported no injury or casualty, though hundreds of families have been evacuated.

In Surigao del Norte alone, over 8,000 persons are in evacuation centers. Towns severely affected are Gigaquit, Tubod and Mainit, where residents fled because of the rising waters at Lake Mainit. Residents in these mining towns are also afraid of possible landslides. Hundreds of passengers are still stranded in Surigao City’s ports, and inter-island vessels remain grounded.

In Butuan City, two major evacuation centers were already overflowing with displaced residents.

“The Agusan National High School (ANHS) and Butuan Central Elementary School could no longer accept evacuees as it is full. The CDRRMC has newly activated evacuation centers in Alviola Elementary School and Ong Yiu Elementary School,” the PIA-Caraga said.

As of Sunday noon, at least 6,027 families were staying in evacuation centers in Butuan City.

Butuan mayor Ferdinand Amante also appealed to the public to help families displaced by the flooding.

“They need hot meals, which you can directly serve in the evacuation sites, good rice, canned goods other than sardines, mineral water especially for kids, mats and blankets, slightly used clothes, milk for children, coffee and sugar, and most of all your love and prayers to sustain them through the storm,” Amante said.

Classes in all levels are also suspended in the entire province of Agusan del Norte.

The NDRRMC said at least 52 roads and 21 bridges were still not passable in Western Mindanao, Northern Mindanao, Davao and Caraga, as of Sunday morning.

Landslides have rendered impassable the national highway in the mountainous winding road of Sibagat town in Agusan del Sur.

The overflowing of Wawa River in Bayugan City has also made it more difficult for motorists plying that route. Disaster officials have advised the public it would be dangerous to cross the bridge against the strong current of the swollen river.

Fieldmen of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) tried to bulldoze a detour route in the landslide-damaged portions of the highway but their efforts proved futile since mud eroded by heavy rains kept rolling down and blocked the way.

ARMM adopts strat plan against human trafficking

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

MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur, Jan. 18 (PIA) --- The Regional Council Against Trafficking of Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) or ACAT has adopted a resolution approving the region’s strategic action plan against trafficking in persons.

ARMM Executive Secretary and ACAT Chairperson Atty. Laisa M. Alamia signed the resolution together with Regional Planning and Development Office Executive Director Engr. Baintan Ampatuan during the council’s meeting Thursday, January 16.

The ARMM Strategic Action Plan, 2013-2016, has three key result areas namely, prevention and awareness raising; protection, recovery, rehabilitation and reintegration; and prosecution and law enforcement.

It was crafted through series of ACAT workshops and consultations involving human rights advocates, partners from government and non-government agencies from the regional and provincial levels, as well as the national office of the Department of Justice.

The ACAT, created through Executive Order No. 24 s. 2014, was organized by the Office of the Regional Governor to address the concerns of human trafficking in ARMM.

Based on a report of the national Inter Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT), the region was identified as one of the country’s primary source of victims of both local and international human trafficking.

Maguindanao leaders welcome BTC consultation

(PNA), LAP/NYP/EOF

KIDAPAWAN CITY, Jan. 17 (PNA) -- Local officials in Maguindanao on Friday welcomed and agreed to continue holding dialogues to discuss the gains of the government peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

On Friday, members of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC), conducted consultation dialogues about the soon to be created Bangsamoro government in Muslim Mindanao.

Maguindanao is home to majority of the MILF members. The group is now talking peace with Manila for the past 15 years. Its main headquarters is located in Darapanan area in Sultan Kudarat town in Maguindanao.

Both Maguindanao Governor Esmael Toto Mangudadatu and BTC chair Mohaqher Iqbal have agreed to cooperate in disseminating the information ahead of the establishment of a Bangsamoro political entity to replace the existing Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) before the term of incumbent regional officials end in 2016.

Maguindanao officials and BTC members have discussed Friday the contents and what will happen to the current ARMM once the new political entity is in place.

Among the issues discussed during the dialogues were the "carry-over" of properties, assets and tenured personnel from ARMM to the Bangsamoro; line agencies and offices of the National Government performing devolved powers, first regular elections, initial organizational requirements of the Bangsamoro government and annual assistance fund or "special development fund."

Iqbal briefed Mangudadatu and 36 municipal mayors of Maguindanao on the ramifications of replacing ARMM with a new, more politically and administratively empowered Bangsamoro entity.

Started in 1997, the GPH-MILF peace talks have gained the support and recognition of the European Union, Japan, Norway, Organization of Islamic Conference, Muslim World League and other international donor outfits.

Malaysia has been serving as third party facilitator and head of the International Monitoring Team.

Mangudadatu lauded the efforts of BTC and its members to reach out to local officials.

"We have been supportive of the peace process because our people are the major beneficiary of this endeavor only the Aquino administration have put emphasis on," Mangudadatu told reporters.

"No one from us had ever stood against it. We want lasting peace and development in all Moro areas to set in through an honest-to-goodness peace process,” he said.

Following the successful dialogues, Iqbal said more multi-sectoral dialogues are already in line to let the people know the noble purpose of the peace process.

The BTC whose creation was approved by President Aquino, is composed of seven representatives from government and eight from the MILF.

Its primary role is to oversee the gradual setting up of a Bangsamoro entity based on the October 15, 2012 Framework Agreement on Bangsamoro by crafting the Bangsamoro Basic Law.

CAAP names new Cotabato airport manager

By Oliver Ross V. Rivera (ORVRivera-PIA12)

DATU ODIN SINSUAT, Maguindanao, Jan 16 (PIA) – The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) assigned a new manager to supervise the operations of Cotabato Airport.

In a press release CAAP announced, Mohammad Naga Rascal is designated as the Cotabato airport manager II replacing Leon Masalta, Jr.

Masalta will now be reassigned at the CAAP Air Navigation Service.

Prior his assignment to the new post as Cotabato Airport manager, Rascal served as CAAP Northern Mindanao Area Manager.

His previous posts included Lumbia airport in Cagayan de Oro. He was then transferred to Laguindingan aiport in Misamis Oriental that opened last June 2013.

The authority order was signed by CAAP director general Lt. Gen. William Hotchkiss III AFP (Ret.)

Meanwhile, the renovation of the Cotabato airport is still on-going, which has resulted in three-day per week closure of the facility.

Per schedule released earlier, Interruption of airport operations would still happen on January 14-16, 2014 and 28-30, February 4-6, 11-13, 18-20, and 25-27 from 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

CAAP also guarantees and assures the safety of the flying public which is the most priority to improve and upgrade their existing airport facilities.

ARMM, Zambo hospital sign health care deal

(PNA), JBP/TPGJR/UTB

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Jan. 15 (PNA) -– The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and the Zamboanga City Medical Center (ZCMC) has signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) Wednesday for the implementation of a health care program for the benefit of indigent patients from ARMM.

The signatories of the MOA were ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman who signed on behalf of ARMM and ZCMC Chief of Hospitals Dr. Romeo Ong, representing ZCMC.

Specifically, the health care program will benefit the indigent patients from the provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi (BaSulTa), which are among the five provinces of ARMM.

The other two ARMM provinces are Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao.

Under the MOA, the ARMM will establish or place a self-liquidating P1 million fund to shoulder the medical expenses of indigent patients from BaSulTa areas admitted at ZCMC.

Hataman said the P1 million self-liquidating fund comes from his office’s Special Purpose Funds.

Hataman explained it will be immediately replenished once consumed “that’s why it is classified as self-liquidating fund.”

“I have Special Purpose Funds of P93 million per year. I have categorized it for health, education, livelihood and capability building of our employees,” Hataman disclosed.

“This (P1 million) is a standby fund that we will tap to provide the needs of the patients,” Ong said citing the health care program stipulated in the MOA covers all health cases and services.

Hataman noted that the ZCMC is “the high-end public hospital of the region” and for the BaSulTa areas due to its proximity.

Ong disclosed that around 25 percent of the more than 400 patients they serve are from the BaSulTa areas.

Hataman said the same health care program is being implemented with a government-owned hospital in Cotabato City for indigent patients from Maguindanao.

Hataman said they will also sign the same MOA with a public hospital in Cagayan de Oro City for indigent patients from Lanao del Sur area.

ARMM investments up by more than 150% in 2013

(PNA), LAP/PR/UTB

DAVAO CITY, Jan. 14 (PNA) -- The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) cornered more than P1.4 billion worth of investments last year, and registered a 157-percent increase as compared to 2012’s P569 million.

ARMM’s Regional Board of Investments (RBOI-ARMM) announced that the region hit its second P1 billion mark, following 2011’s P1.6 billion.

"We attribute this significant increase in investments to the signing of the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) between the Philippine Government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF),” said Ishak Mastura, Chairman of RBOI-ARMM.

He added that the agreement boosted confidence among investors in doing business in the region, because of the promise of peace and stability.

The RBOI-ARMM also announced that ARMM registered four new businesses last year with mineral development being the biggest contributor to the remarkable growth.

A Tawi-Tawi based company, Al-Tawitawi Nickel Corporation invested more than P700 million for a mineral development project in Tawi-Tawi, while a P365 million real estate investment was registered by the Bumbaran Development Corporation. Other major investments recordedinclude the expansion of a banana plantation, and the establishment of an oil depot.

Mastura said the strong support of the local government units, reinforced by the ARMM regional government ensured investors “that doing business in ARMM is easy, safe, and profitable.”

“It’s worth noting that the more than P1 billion worth of investments recorded last year generated 1,743 jobs for the people of ARMM,” he added.

The ARMM government has also been offering both fiscal and non-fiscal incentives for new investments to attract more business ventures to the region.

"Governance reforms in ARMM has not only contributed to the overall peace and security situation in the region, but has also increased investor confidence as shown by this positive development," said Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) Chairperson Luwalhati Antonino.

Antonino expressed optimism for ARMM to continue experiencing massive investment growth, once the remaining infrastructure projects in the region are in place.

ARMM received a P8.59-billion funding under the Transition Investment Support Plan (TISP) of the national government, and P2.8 billion of the amount was allocated for DPWH’s infrastructure projects.

To further boost investments and economic growth in the island-region, a spatial development framework called the Mindanao Development Corridors is being carried out by MinDA, where one of the strategies is to achieve connectivity through the development of intermodaltransport systems and the strengthening of logistics to support growing industries.

“A well-placed connectivity infrastructure will allow ARMM’s top exports sourced mainly from rural areas to expediently reach urban centers for processing and marketing, and arrive at our export gateways faster and in better shape,” Antonino said.

The development corridors will bank on the strengths of Mindanao's key regions, with Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi forming part of the Mariculture and Trade corridor.

MinDA, along with Board of Investments, the Department of Trade and Industry, and RBOI-ARMM have also been closely working together to expand investment opportunities in Mindanao to BIMP-EAGA and other international markets.

Lawmaker proposes govt body for seaweed industry

By John Unson (philstar.com)

A lawmaker has filed a bill that seeks the creation of a government agency tasked to develop the country's seaweed industry.

Basilan Representative Jim Hataman-Salliman proposed the creation of the Philippine Seaweed Industry Development Authority (PSIDA) to boost the production of seaweeds and make the industry more competitive in the world market.

Hataman-Salliman said: "The creation of such an agency is long overdue and a necessity in order to make the seaweed industry competitive in the world market, at the same time making it a prime mover in the country's overall economic development."

He said the proposed PSIDA will focus on addressing the problems that the industry is facing.

There are more than 150,000 hectares of seaweed farms throughout the country, most of them in coastal barangays in Western Mindanao, particularly in Basilan Province, Central and Eastern Visayas, and the Southern Tagalog region. These regions account for 60 percent of the country's total production, Hataman-Salliman said.

Under the measure, the Department of Agriculture (DA) is directed to promulgate the rules and regulations for full implementation.

ARMM to address mulcting activities on cargo trucks, vans in Maguindanao

By John Unson (philstar.com)

Local traders here have complained of mulcting activities of traffic law enforcers in Maguidanao after cargo trucks carrying goods from Davao City were barred from entering the city due to dilapidated Quirino Bridge.

The Metro Cotabato Chamber of Commerce and Industry complained to regional Gov. Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) about mulcting activities in Maguindanao highways when cargo trucks and vans from Davao City and Bukidnon use the North Cotabato-Maguindanao-Cotabato City highway as alternative route.

Quirino Bridge, built by Americans in 1959, had been showing deterioration forcing public works and highways officials to limit the tonnage of vehicles passing through in going to the city proper.

Only vehicles with 2.5 total weight were allowed to pass through the bridge while construction of alternate road leading to the newly constructed alternate bridge was still in progress.

Informed of their predicament, Hataman directed the Philippine National Police and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG-ARMM) to arrest highway mulcters that prey on cargo trucks.

“If the mulcting activities continue, the consumers will end up the losers as traders will be forced to pass on the amount to buyers,” a trader told reporters.

Hataman vowed to punish the highway “robber” because “they are destroying the image of our region.”

Women build school, farm facilities under WB project

By John Unson (philstar.com)

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines – Sometimes the best men for construction works are women.

There is a school building and two solar dryers in a coastal village in Parang town in the province that Moro women constructed the “bayanihan way” with the help of World Bank.

The two-classroom building in the Saliguidan Elementary School at Barangay Polloc in Parang is now 78 percent complete and expected to be opened for the use of grade school pupils by the start of the 2014 school year.

The school has 286 Muslim pupils, whose parents rely mainly on fishing and propagation of Carageenan seaweeds or “agal-agal,” which is widely utilized as food, as food additive, extender, and as organic emulsifier for medicines, ice cream and dairy products, and lubricants.

The two solar dryers constructed in Barangay Polloc by ethnic Iranon women, led by Hadjarah Sambolawan Macacua, president of the local people’s organization (PO), are now being used by farmers.

“Women in the barangay had a direct hand in the construction of these facilities. They worked under the heat of the sun, [like] real construction workers,” Macacua said.

The projects were implemented as a common endeavor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Social Fund Project (ASFP), the local people’s organization, barangay officials and the local government unit of Parang.

The ASFP is the conduit for projects of the World Bank in the autonomous region.

School principal Maradi Camsa, also an ethnic Iranon, said he was amazed at how their women-dominated PO built build a school and two solar dryers using funds from the World Bank.

Yehna Ayob, treasurer of Polloc’s PO, said the implementation of the ASFP project in their barangay also provided them the chance to show that they are capable of handling foreign-assisted community projects to designed to alleviate poverty in Moro areas.

The ASFP is one of the special projects of the regional government, which has been helping thousands of impoverished, marginalized ARMM residents.

The ASFP, which started helping rebuild conflict-stricken areas in the autonomous region more than a decade ago, is presently building infrastructures out of a $30-million additional package the World Bank released in 2010.

The ASFP had, as of December 2013, constructed or rehabilitated 87 school buildings in the ARMM provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi.

Sayeed Abdullah, the municipal facilitator for ASFP projects in Parang, said he never doubted the capability of the PO in Barangay Polloc to accomplish the World Bank-assisted projects.

“There was so much eagerness and volunteerism on their part,” Abdullah said.

ARMM traders welcome entry of Fil-Malaysian oil firm

(PNA), FFC/NYP/EOF

COTABATO CITY, Jan. 10 (PNA) -- Traders here welcomed the entry in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) of a Filipino-Malaysian oil firm as this was seen to improve the local business climate.

Iron Blaze Petroleum Incorporated had been supplying the region with fuel from Sabah since December through the Port of Polloc, ARMM's biggest and most modern seaport facilities in Maguindanao.

Its operation has been covered with permits from the Department of Trade and Industry, the Bureau of Customs, the Department of Energy, and the Regional Board of Investments (RBOI) in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

According to the RBOI, Iron Blaze brought in its initial supply of premium gasoline to ARMM Sabah, Malaysia last December using a 260,000-liter oil tanker.

According to Lawyer Ishak Mastura, RBOI-ARMM chair, Iron Blaze is to put up a modern nine-million liter petroleum depot in Parang, Maguindanao, where Shell, Petron and Caltex depot were located until it ceased operations in early 1990s.

With the oil depo in town, business leaders said prices of gasoline and diesel could be P2 or P4 lower as compared to petroleum products sold in nearby areas in the island.

Consumers here have been suffering from higher cost of fuel when the depots of big oil companies shut down, causing oil prices to go higher due to transport cost from Davao and Gen. Santos Cities.

The oil firm has been enjoying special trading privileges through the ARMM’s Special Economic Zone.

Mastura said it is important to increase the volume of shipments of petroleum products in the region using big oil tankers for prices of fuel in the area to go down.

Pete Marquez, a ranking official of the Metro-Cotabato chamber of commerce and industry, said the entry of Iron Blaze was a "very welcome" development for the businessmen and the general public because it made the region more investment friendly.

Thousands of children benefit from ARMM Social Fund school projects

By Irene F. Gonzales

COTABATO CITY - The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Social Fund, one of the special projects supervised by the ARMM, takes pride of its success in constructing school buildings and other small infrastructures which have benefited thousands of school children in conflict-affected and poverty stricken communities in the autonomous region.

ASF which is operating on a $30-million additional financing from the World Bank in 2010, covers 596 of the 870 remaining unserved villages in the region.

As of December 2013, a total of 87 school buildings composed of one to three classrooms were either constructed or rehabilitated and 75 more are still on-going in the provinces of Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Basilan, Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao.

In the provinces of Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and Basilan, there were 83 school buildings identified, prioritized and already implemented and Sulu has the highest completed sub-projects reaching 24 with 15 on-going. While Tawi-Tawi is next with 17 completed, 5 on-going and Basilan with 16 completed and 6 ongoing construction, respectively.

In the provinces of Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, which constitutes two districts each, a total of 79 sub-projects were identified and implemented. Of the number, 30 were completed and 49 ongoing construction.

Abba R. Kuaman, ASF project manager, said these are just few of the thousands of community interventions we have done in response to ARMM Governor and ASF BOD chairman Mujiv Hataman’s agenda of advancing the quality of life of the underprivileged in the region.

Kuaman said: “The completed school sub-projects are now benefiting school children in far-flung communities who in the past have experienced attending classes under a shaded tree or dilapidated structures due to limited classrooms,” adding “we are happy that under the Hataman administration and with the help of our partners on the ground, we were able to deliver the services needed by our people in ARMM.”

He added: “We would like to assure everyone that we have made available in our data bank the list of all sub-projects implemented for reference and transparency purposes.”

ASF’s implementation of community infrastructures are facilitated through its Community Development Assistance component adopting the so-called community-driven development approach wherein people’s organization are given the chance to manage and implement sub-projects according to their needs.

Expressing contentment over the sub-project in their area, villae chairman Bandaw Irijani of Pislong in Siasi town in Sulu, said: “ ARMM Social Fund is a gift from Above” being the only service provider that gave them the opportunity to put-up school building in their community.

Irijani’s statement was supported by Nurhima, an out-of-school youth at the village of Taingting in Parang town who also shared happiness on their sub-projects, said in dialect, “Pasal ha project ini, matuy na in plano ko mag-school ha ukab school ini. Magsukol tuod ha ASFP.” (Because of this project, my dream to continue my study is now possible. Thanks so much to ASFP).

ARMM Social Fund, which cited a report by the Provincial Social Welfare Office in Sulu, said Nurhima is one of the many children who were forced to stop studying for reasons of limited classrooms.

The Provincial Social Welfare Offices in the region are ASF’s partners on the ground responsible in the supervision of field workers providing technical assistance to the People’s Organization.

Apart from the school buildings, the small infrastructures such as timber foot bridges, tire paths, warehouses and solar driers, hanging bridges, health stations and mini-wharves were also constructed region-wide.

The ASF which is to end its project life in May this year and is expected to complete all its remaining sub-projects making more communities empowered and embracing the values of transparency and good governance.

Filipino oil firm to put up depot in Maguindanao

(Mindanao Examiner)

COTABATO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Jan. 8, 2014) - A Filipino oil company, Iron Blaze Petroleum, Inc. is putting up a P90 million oil depot in the Port of Polloc in Maguindanao, one of five provinces under the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The depot will have a capacity of about 9 million liters, according to the ARMM’s Regional Board of Investments. It said the company has already made two deliveries of 260,000 liters of fuel from Sabah since December, according to Shamera Abobakar, the information officer and senior investment specialist of the Regional Board of Investments.

"Iron Blaze Petroleum is a Filipino company which gets its oil supply in Malaysia and they are putting up a depot in Maguindanao province, at the Port of Polloc," she told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.

The Regional Board of Investments said the fresh supply of fuel in the market was good, but it was not enough to bring down the coast of gasoline in the region which is now at P60 per liter.

“The reception of the market was quiet positive as it brought fresh oil supplies (and) the next step (now) is to bring lower oil prices in Central Mindanao by increasing the volume of shipments of oil in Polloc Port and for that a bigger oil tanker boat is needed,” Abobakar said.

The Regional Board of Investments said the two shipments of fuel was considered a landmark achievement for the economic linkage of ARMM with its neighboring countries such as Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia which are all part, including the Philippines, of the East ASEAN Growth Area.

“Increasing economic linkage with BIMP-EAGA countries will be the trend as ARMM transforms into the new political entity of Bangsamoro as envisioned by the peace agreement between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front,” Abobakar said, adding the Department of Energy in Manila has endorsed the depot project.

The MILF, the country's largest Muslim rebel group, is currently negotiating peace with Manila in an effort to sign an accord that would put an end to bloody fighting in the South and bring more developments to Muslim-dominated areas in Mindanao.

Peace panels have signed the Bangsamoro Framework Agreement that would pave the way for a new Muslim autonomous region, replacing the current ARMM which is also composed of Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and Lanao provinces, including the cities of Marawi and Lamitan.

ARMM to subsidize 12 IRA-less towns

By John Unson (The Philippine Star)

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is ready to provide a P500,000 monthly stipend for its 12 towns that do not receive the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) from the national government.

Most of the towns are located in Maguindanao, created between 2007 and 2009 by the ARMM’s regional legislative assembly (RLA), said to be the “Little Congress” of the autonomous region.

The 12 towns have been dependent on the cash assistance provided by the Department of Budget and Management.

ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman said he would meet with the towns’ executives to discuss how the monthly P500,000 stipend could be facilitated from the ARMM coffers.

“I will have to make them promise that they will do everything to prevent absenteeism among their ranks. I just want to make sure they will continue to strive hard for their local government units to function at all times,” Hataman said.

A member of the RLA, Maguindanao Assemblyman Khadafeh Mangudadatu, expressed elation over Hataman’s gesture.

“That’s a big help for these 12 towns that are existing, operating without any IRA,” Mangudadatu said.

Mangudadatu was a proponent of an RLA resolution that urges the national government to grant the towns a share in the IRA.

The resolution, which was approved last month, stressed the need for the IRA to enable the 12 municipal governments to deliver services to the people.

ARMM expects over P1-B investment in 2014

By Danilo E. Doguiles (DEDoguiles-PIA 12 with SAAbobakar)

COTABATO CITY, Jan. 6 (PIA) -- Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao’s Regional Board of Investments (RBOI) believes 2014 will bring more investments to the region.

ARMM RBOI chief Ishak Mastura said they are expecting a repeat of the 2013 achievement and expect investors to pour in over P1 billion investment.

In 2013, ARMM reached a record investment of P1.463 B from four firms registered with RBOI. The amount was 157 percent higher than the P569-M that investors poured in 2012.

In a statement sent to Philippine Information Agency 12, Mastura said he foresees at least eight or more firms registering with RBOI this year to avail of fiscal and non-fiscal incentives for their investments.

Although, this rate of registration of firms with RBOI is still very far from what the BOI in Manila experiences in any given year, he emphasized, for ARMM it is already a veritable rush of registration of investments by the firms in the region.

There seems to be a trend for enterprises in the region to register with the RBOI now that the region is set on a trajectory of high growth brought about by the stability engendered by the Mindanao peace process.

Previously, firms operated in the grey economy or informal sector with minimal transparency but as the peace and order situation in the ARMM normalizes firms operating in the region are rushing to register with the RBOI their investment projects and their expansion programs.

While banana export industry has been a mainstay in terms of registration of investments, RBOI expects a rise in investments in the mining sector.

Last year, the top investor to register with RBOI with P707 million worth of investments was nickel-mining operator, Al Tawitawi Nickel Corporation, which has its nickel-mining investment in Tawi-Tawi.

This year, at least two other nickel-mining firms also operating in Tawi-Tawi are set to register with the RBOI.

However, ARMM Regional Governor Mujiv Hataman has set a strict policy that mining firms being in an extractive industry cannot avail of fiscal incentives from RBOI as their taxes are needed by the region for its development.

Oil palm plantations and infrastructure projects are also being eyed by RBOI as sources of more investments for the region in 2014 and beyond.

Oil-palm is a leading industry in Malaysia and the Philippine embassy in Kuala Lumpur has been promoting Malaysian investments in oil-palm in the ARMM after the signing of the Malaysian-facilitated peace agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front last year.

With the progress of the peace negotiations between the Philippine Government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, RBOI also expects a growth in the infrastructure investment in ARMM.

Other major investors in ARMM in 2013 included Bumbaran Development Corporation, for the construction of 1,500 housing units worth P365 million in Brgy. Sarmiento, Parang, Maguindanao; La Frutera, Inc. that poured in P300 million for their 300-hectare expansion of Cavendish banana plantation in the Municipality of Pandag, Maguindanao; Iron Blaze Petroleum, Inc. that committed for the construction of a P90-million oil depot in Polloc Port in Parang, Maguindanao

The four firms generated 1,743 for ARMM in 2013.

CIDG raids alleged smuggled petroleum products

By Arianne Apatan (ABS-CBN News)

COTABATO CITY -- A Philippine-registered ship docked at Polloc Port is now being investigated by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG)-ARMM for shipping alleged smuggled petroleum products.

The ship, which is under the Ocean Coast Shipping Company, was set to deliver 260,000 liters of petroleum products to Iron Blaze Petroleum Inc., which imports gasoline from Malaysia.

An initial report from CIDG-ARMM revealed that the ship allegedly contained smuggled petroleum products.

CIDG-ARMM also said that aside from the petroleum products, there were armed men on board the vessel.

However, when CIDG operatives inspected the ship on Saturday, no single firearm was seen.

CIDG-ARMM is now verifying if the documents pertaining to the legalities of the products are authentic.

Bureau of Customs collector Bing Quinonez said the captain of the ship already complied with the needed documents, such as those from the Department of Energy, Bureau of Immigration, Bureau of Quarantine and Polloc Port.

Iron Blaze just needs to settle tax charges to BOC and the products will be ready for discharge.

Polloc Port manager Atty. Barouk Mangutara also testified for the documents submitted by the shipping and oil company.

This is the second shipping delivery for Iron, which established an oil depot in Parang, Maguindanao.

Hataman to meet Basilan PPOC to devise safety measures following grenade blast

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

COTABATO CITY, Jan 4 (PNA) -- Regional Governor Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) will preside over the provincial peace and order council meeting of Basilan on Monday to help local authorities find a lasting solution to violence against civilians in the province.

Along with Basilan Governor Jum Akbar who chairs the provincial peace and order council, Hataman and local police authorities are expected to device mechanisms that will ensure safety of civilians and contain security threats in the strife-torn province.

This, after seven persons were killed and five others wounded when a man believed to be member of the dreaded Abu Sayyaf Group, set off a hand grenade at a party on New Year's in Barangay Tumahubong.

Hataman is the chairman of the larger ARMM regional peace and order council, whose members include the region’s police director, Chief Supt. Noel Delos Reyes, and senior officials of the Armed Forces’ Western Mindanao Command in Zamboanga City.

“Our primary concern is how to accelerate the dispensation of justice to the victims and devise measures that will spare civilians from atrocities," Hataman told reporters.

Akbar in a separate statement said all the town mayors of Basilan have vowed to help the provincial government restore law and order in remote villages and prevent the loss of lives and properties.

Hataman has said a bounty has been raised for the identification, arrest and prosecution of the suspect in the December 31 blast.

ARMM social welfare and health departments have already extended assistance to the families of the slain civilians and financial aid to the survivors who are all confined in a hospital in Zamboanga City.

ARMM Gov. Hataman condemns Basilan bombing; extends aid to victims

(PNA), SCS/NYP/EOF

COTABATO CITY, Jan. 1 (PNA) -- Regional Gov. Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) condemned Wednesday the bomb attack in Basilan on New Year's eve that left seven persons dead and five others wounded.

Hataman described the incident as a "cowardly and satanic act meant to kill innocent people."

He assured the victims' families that justice will be served. “We assure them that justice shall be served,” Hataman said in a text message to reporters.

ARMM has already extended financial and medical assistance to four persons wounded in the attack.

Police and military investigators confirmed the explosive used in a residential compound in Basilan was a hand grenade with improvised trigger mechanism.

Five persons were killed on the spot when the bag that contained the explosive placed under one of the chairs went off at about 10 p.m

Two others died while being rushed to a hospital in Zamboanga City.

Apparently, the suspect and the victims knew each other as they even welcomed the unidentified man as he arrived at the residential compound in Barangay Tumahubong, Sumisip town.

One witness told investigators that the victims offered food and drinks to the suspect who, after few drinks, quietly left.

Minutes later, the bag that he left under his chair went off.

Police identified six of the fatalities as Rey Limbin, Elbert Gomoba, Kitarul Kaddik, Leniebel Cisneros, Lourdes Badjon Gumuba and Therese Claire Alegarbes.

Barangay Tumahubong was about 10 kilometers away from Barangay Buli-Buli, the hometown of Gov. Hataman.

He directed the police to identify, arrest and file charges against the perpetrator.

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