Autonomous Region Muslim Mindanao News May 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.

DSWD 12 trains enumerators for Maguindanao, Lanao Sur Listahanan

(PNA), CTB/NYP/EOF

COTABATO CITY, May 31 (PNA) -- To equip social welfare workers with the necessary expertise in implementing various development projects, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Region 12 have undergone extensive training on gathering information from households in some poor communities in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), officials said Saturday.

The final batch of trainees to be deployed by DSWD 12 through its National Household Targeting Unit (NHTU) for the special validation has just undergone a drill which helped equip them for the actual house to house visit and interview in rural and urban areas of the ARMM.

Out of the 32 workers assigned for the Lanao del Sur cluster, 14 will be assigned to Social Pension (SOCPEN) program while 18 are assigned to the Modified Conditional Cash Transfer (MCCT) with the following breakdown.

Two field staff will be designated as Area Supervisors (AS) and 12 will be Enumerators (ENs) for SOCPEN.

For MCCT, three AS will supervise a total of 13 enumerators, all of whom are local residents of the province.

The three-day training ran from May 25-27, 2014 in Crystal Inn function hall, Iligan City.

The NHTU for provinces of Lanao Del Sur and Maguindanao (LaMa) are mainstreamed to DSWD field office 12 apart from the 45 municipalities and five cities in region 12.

Seventy five municipalities and one city under ARMM are also part of the coverage of DSWD 12.

DSWD Sec. Dinky Soliman named Aminah Macodi and Asraf Dirampatan as NHTU Project Development Officers (PDOs) to lead the "Listahanan" operations for Region 12.

Both PDO’s have sought the vigilance of the public against field workers who will be found not performing their tasks either as Area Supervisors or Enumerators.

Both Macodi and Dirampatan urged field workers to value of honesty in performing their tasks so the DSWD can come up and develop a credible "Listahanan" database.

"Listahanan" is an information management system that identifies who and where the poor are nationwide.

Anti-poverty programs such as Conditional cash Transfer (CCT) and Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) based their beneficiaries on the said database.

Security top concern of teachers, students in ARMM

By Roel Pareño (philstar.com)

ZAMBOANGA CITY - - Government security forces and local government units beefed up security plans to ensure the safety of the teachers and local residents when classes resume next week amid to threats of abduction in areas known to have strong presence of the Abu Sayyaf and kidnapping syndicates, according to an official.

Teachers and local residents remain vulnerable to threats of kidnapping following the recent abduction of a school principal and the extortion of safety fees from teachers in Sumisip town, Basilan province.

Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Gov. Mujiv Hataman said security remains a concern in areas known to be infested by the presence of the Abu Sayyaf group and the other kidnap gangs in the region.

Security officials confirmed the Abu Sayyaf group in far flung villages in Basilan reportedly exacting monthly protection fee, ranging from P500 each from teachers to spare them from kidnapping.

Hataman said he received similar reports that teachers were told to pay protection money, "but none of the teachers acceded to the demand.”

The monthly “safety fees” were discovered following the abduction the other month of a public school principal who was subsequently freed after two weeks in captivity in Sumisip town.

Hataman said he met with Basilan Provincial Police director Mario Dapilloza to step up security measures to thwart the threat posed by the different armed groups, including the Abu Sayyaf group.

Hataman said the police, military, and the civilian leaders will hold regular assessment sessions to ensure the implementation of the security protocol.

“Security remains a challenge because there are different actors such as the police, military and the local government units and I believe the key here are the local government units because they are at the forefront,” Hataman said.

The police and military have yet to resolve several kidnapping cases in Basilan and Sulu where about a dozen of victims, both foreigners and local residents, remainecaptives by different factions of the Abu Sayyaf group.

Among the captives held in Basilan area Chinese businesswoman Dina Lim Eraham, 45, and her daughter Yahong Lim Tan, 19, both of Isabela City where the kidnappers demanded P30-million ransom.

In Sulu, the Abu Sayyaf faction is believed to be holding captive Germans Stefan Viktor Okonek, 71, and his female companion, Herike Diesen, 55; Chinese national Gao Hua Yuan and Malaysian-Chinese Yang Zai Lin, who were separately abducted last month in Sabah.

Gao, 29, a Shanghai native, was abducted along with Filipina resort worker Marcelita Dayawan, 40, last April 1 from a resort off Semporna while Yang, 34, and a companion identified as Konar Resowan, were taken last May 6.

The two Germans went missing late April from their yacht off Palawan and were reportedly seized and brought by the Abu Sayyaf to the Sulu province.

The German captives were believed to be united with two other European hostages – Dutchman Elwold Horn and Swiss Lorenzo Vinceguerre - both abducted since February 2012 in Tawi-Tawi and brought to Sulu, according to authorities.

New ARMM teachers challenged to do best

By Roel Pareño (philstar.com)

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines - Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Gov. Mujiv Hataman has challenged thousands of newly hired public school teachers to do their best to educate the constituents in the region.

Hataman on Thursday has sworn in close to 500 newly appointed teachers for the areas of Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi during a mass oath taking in a private convention hall here.

“Just like in the regional government our main goal is to bring the services that will be felt by the people and for them to see what a government really is. So for these newly hired teachers their main goal and result is to have educated constituents and this should start in primary, school” Hataman said on the sidelines of the ceremony.

Hataman, ARMM Executive Secretary Laisa Alamia and ARMM Department of Education Sec. Jamar Kulayan led the distribution of the appointment certificates to 389 teachers.

More than 900 new teachers assigned to different schools in ARMM’s mainland provinces in Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur and Marawi City had earlier taken their oath en masse at the region’s seat of government in Cotabato City.

Kulayan said they will deploy additional 1,353 teachers across the Muslim region in this coming school year to ensure the increasing literacy and competency in ARMM’s region which were previously described to be lagging based on the national statistics survey.

Kulayan said the newly teachers will now join the over 23,000 s teachers in the ARMM.

Hataman also urged the teachers to wholeheartedly commit to their duties as educators and set aside any feelings of debt of gratitude to any official as a result of their appointment as teachers.

“Wala kayong dapat isipin na utang na loob sa kahit kaninuman dahil dumaan kayo sa proseso,” Hataman told the teachers.

Hataman warned that teachers who will not perform their duties will be removed from the service following due process.

“If they will not report [for work], we will remove them,” he said.

He also challenged the Parents-Teachers, Community Association (PTCA) and the barangay officials to reports to them those teachers who are not reporting, saying that he will not hesitate to withhold the salaries of the erring teachers.

According to Hataman, the implementation of a good education in the ARMM is just part of a smooth transition for the Bangsamoro Region.

“The point here is all of our initiatives are consolidated and are part of our preparation for the new transition. We want to stress to have a smooth transition and whatever happens in the coming days or future we will not be told we were not ready,” Hataman added.

ARMM investments hit P1.62-B in 1st semester, breaks 2013 total figures

(RBOI)

COTABATO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / May 23, 2014) - The Regional Board of Investments of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao on Wednesday said its first semester investments have reached P1.62 billion and exceeded last year's overall registered investments of P1.46 billion.

This is after RBOI approved the Agumil Philippines, Inc.’s registration of oil palm kernel crushing plant worth P170 million in the town of Buluan in Maguindanao province.

Agumil has added to the P1.451 billion investment generated during the first quarter of this year namely Lamsan Power Corporation’s P921.56 million biomass renewable energy investment, SR Languyan Mining Corporation’s P520 million nickel ore mining project, among others.

It said Agumil Philippines is a Filipino-Malaysian company registered with RBOI since 2006 and is engaged in oil palm milling, mainly exporting its products to Malaysia. It is operating an oil palm mill with a capacity of 45 tons per hour in Buluan.

In the process of Agumil’s operation until to date, the company has accumulated a sizable amount of quality palm kernels which is enough to process into palm kernel oil and cake for animal feeds.

And this has prompted the company to construct a crushing plant also near the milling plant to make profitable use of these kernels. The crushing plant is expected to generate 500 cyclical construction workers and 54 new jobs.

Agumil, aside from being a business partner of over 6,000 oil palm out growers in Maguindanao and nearby areas, is also expected to put up a biomass power plant to support the energy needs of their milling and crushing plants within this year or early in 2015, and the excess power will be sold to the national transmission grid.

RBOI Chairman lawyer Ishak Mastura said he foresees big local companies will continue to invest in ARMM to take advantage of the positive business sentiment in the region and the relative stability brought about by the signing in March of the peace agreement or the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro between the Philippine government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels.

Mastura said: “Investors view this peace agreement as a removal of the major risk of flare-up of violent political conflict and insurgency in the region. We are bullish that investments in ARMM will exceed two billion pesos this year for the first time as a result.”

He said Agumil will be provided by RBOI with Income Tax Holidays for 6 years at the start of their commercial operations and other fiscal and non-fiscal incentives for the company’s socio-economic contributions to the development of the region.

ARMM gov't confident 10-M trees will be planted by 2016

By John Unson (philstar.com)

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - The natural resources department of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is confident it can achieve its target of planting 10 million trees in denuded lands before the ARMM is replaced with a Bangsamoro entity by 2016.

Kahal Kedtag, regional secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in ARMM, said personnel of their field offices, assisted by various non-government organizations and the military, already planted 2.3 million trees in barren areas from late 2011 up to the first quarter of 2014.

Kedtag said the most active supporters of the DENR-ARMM’s reforestation projects are the Army’s 603rd Brigade in Maguindanao, and the office of Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu.

Kedtag said the provincial government of Maguindanao has been distributing for free rubber tree seedlings, by the thousands, since Mangudadatu’s first election as governor in 2010.

“Rubber trees can also become good `forest cover’ for mountain tops and plain fields. When farmers start harvesting rubber sap from these trees, they will also protect the trees to the best they can,” Kedtag said.

Members of the Army’s 603rd Brigade based in Camp Abubakar, a 13,400-hectare plateau at the tri-boundary of Maguindanao’s adjoining hinterland Buldon, Barira and Matanog towns, have also been planting forest tree seedlings in the surroundings of their camp since early this year.

Kedtag said their efforts to curb illegal logging activities in the autonomous region got a much-needed boost when ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman, while still an appointed caretaker of the regional government, declared a moratorium on cutting of trees in areas under his administrative jurisdiction.

The suspension order issued in early 2012 by Hataman, who was elected ARMM governor on May 13, 2013, will remain as long as he is chief executive of the autonomous region, said Kedtag.

“This has resulted to a `zero illegal logging’ in the autonomous region. Over and above this regional moratorium is the Executive Order 29, which was issued by President Benigno Aquino III that effectively banned all forms of logging activities in the Philippines,” Kedtag pointed out.

Kedtag said the Hataman administration is grateful to the Department of National Defense and the Philippine National Police for helping carry out its anti-illegal logging thrusts in the component provinces of the autonomous region – Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, both in mainland Mindanao, and the islands of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

Kedtag said the ARMM’s “regreening program” is also being supported by the Hineleban Foundation, Inc. under the Mindanao Rainforest Initiative program.

BFP-ARMM to hire 200 new firemen

(ORVRivera-PIA12)

COTABATO CITY, May 26 (PIA) – The Bureau of Fire Protection-ARMM is hiring 200 new fire fighters this year to strengthen its manpower.

Along with its modernization program, the hiring of new personnel is seen to strengthen the capability of the BFP in responding to fires and other emergencies, said Atty. Baltazar Saradain of BFP-ARMM Regional Admin Division.

Saradain said the recruitment is also expected to address the insufficient number of BFP personnel and effectively stir public awareness on fire prevention.

Atty. Saradain noted that the applicants will go through a comprehensive screening.

The applicants will undergo a series of tests, namely: qualifying exam, panel interview, physical agility tests, medical/dental/neuro-psychiatric exams, he said.

Meanwhile, the official said new firefighters will be deployed in 30 new fire stations in the region’s five provinces.

“We are also expecting the arrival of 30 new fire trucks for the new fire stations,” he added.

Bangsamoro Basic Law will be submitted to Congress on time, says Palace

(PNA), CTB/PND/RAS

MANILA, May 25 (PNA) -- A Palace official said Malacanang is working on the review of the Bangsamoro Basic Law with urgency assuring the public that it will be soon submitted to Congress.

Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal said time is running out for the submission of the draft law to Congress.

Iqbal also chairs the Bangsamoro Transition Commission, comprised of experts from the government and the MILF, which drafted the bill.

In a radio interview over dzRB Radyo on Bayan on Saturday, Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the Palace is working very hard on the review of the draft law and the President himself made several follow ups.

"The President himself has made several follow-ups on the legal team but the President is also cognizant and is understanding of the task that is at hand," Valte said.

Valte also said the President saw the three-inch thick draft of the Bangsamoro Basic Law.

Valte quoted the President as saying: “I am very cognizant of the urgency but I’m also understanding of the task at hand.”

"Nagche-check na din si Pangulo kung kamusta na 'yung review," she said.

Congress will ratify the Bangsamoro Basic Law which will replace the organic act that created the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Peace Adviser Teresita Deles expressed confidence that the draft bill would be submitted before Congress adjourns on June 7.

She said the President wants to make it sure that he certifies the draft as urgent that can be defended in Congress during deliberations.

Deles said the Chief Executive does not want false promises to achieve a lasting peace in Mindanao which for several decades ravaged the region.

Maguindanao traders see positive signs with Iqbal, Isko Moreno visits

By John Unson (philstar.com)

MAGUINDANAO - Businessmen are convinced the first visit ever of Moro peace broker Muhaquer Iqbal to the residence of Orlando Cardinal Quevedo on Thursday and the tour of Manila Vice-Mayor Francisco “Isko” Moreno in Maguindanao could help bring in more investments into the province.

Iqbal, chief negotiator of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and presiding chairman of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission, even gifted Quevedo a token, a shiny "talam," a brass serving plate that symbolizes Moro hospitality, while at the Bishop’s Palace in Cotabato City.

Administratively, Cotabato City is under Region 12, but is geographically located inside the first district of Maguindanao, a component province of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. The city is a major trading hub connected, economy-wise, to the markets in all of Maguindanao’s 36 towns.

Residents of Maguindanao also witnessed on Thursday how vice mayors from across the country, led by Moreno, who is Francisco Domogoso in real life, convened in Buluan town in Maguindanao for the second quarter executive meeting of the National League of Vice Mayors. Moreno is the national president of the league.

Baisan Sema, president of the Muslim Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Kutawato, Inc., said she and members of her group were delighted with Iqbal’s gesture, which disproved speculations that the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro (CAB) would only benefit Mindanao’s Muslim communities and could possibly marginalize non-Muslims politically.

The CAB is the final peace compact between the government and the MILF, signed in Malacañang on March 27, 2014 by Iqbal and his government counterpart, Miriam Coronel-Ferrer.

“Our Non-Muslim business partners and contacts outside of Cotabato City and abroad will feel safe dealing with us. They have closely been monitoring all developments regarding the Mindanao peace process,” Sema said.

Iqbal was accompanied to Quevedo’s residence, a symbolic icon of Christianity in a predominantly Moro area, by peace activists and members of the city’s local business community, among them Mohammad “Em” Pasigan of the Bangsamoro Business Club, and hardware store owner Ongpin Yu Ekey, who is of mixed Moro-Chinese descent.

A leader of a local Christian community, Pastor Troy Cordero, who was born and raised in Cotabato City, said continuous interaction among Muslim clerics, top officials of the MILF and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), and Central Mindanao’s Christian political and religious leaders will hasten the region's recovery from economic retrogression caused by conflicts in past decades.

Moreno, along with hundreds of visiting vice mayors from Visayas, Luzon and Metro Manila, also toured the site of the Nov. 23, 2009 Maguindanao Massacre in Barangay Salman in Ampatuan town, accompanied by Buluan Vice-Mayor Jhazzer Mangudadatu and his patriarch, Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu.

Gov. Mangudadatu willingly hosted the meeting of the national league of vice mayors in Maguindanao to show to participants how the investment atmosphere in the province improved in recent years, as a result of the provincial government’s diplomatic and socio-economic activities, and the religious enforcement by the military and the MILF of the 1997 Agreement on General Cessation of Hostilities.

Moreno had told reporters he was impressed with the current security situation in Maguindanao, which he described as “ripe” for viable agricultural ventures. He said the national league of vice mayors will support the planned development of the immediate surroundings of Barangay Salman, scene of the "Maguindanao Massacre” into a 2,000-hectare Cavendish banana farm by Malaysian and European investors. Moreno said he will make known to his friends in Metro Manila’s business community the viability of putting up businesses in the province now, under a governor who is focused on socio-economic activities meant to address underdevelopment, in an area once plagued by conflicts and controlled by warlords opposing economic development for fear of losing political dominion over their impoverished constituents.

Pete Marquez, a senior member of different business organizations in Cotabato City, said Moreno’s promise to help lure foreign investors complements the advocacy for “culture of peace and entrepreneurship” by Quevedo, who is also archbishop of Cotabato, and Gov. Mangudadatu, who is chairman of the Maguindanao’s inter-agency peace and order council.

“Positive business energies are now converging into one positive configuration in Cotabato City and Maguindanao as a dividend of the Mindanao peace process," Marquez said.

DPWH - ARMM hires 96 personnel for two new district offices

(PNA), FPV/NYP

COTABATO CITY, May 23 (PNA) - - The Department of Public Works and Highways - Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (DPWH-ARMM), in coordination with the ARMM Personnel Selection and Promotion Board, is currently screening the application of 96 additional employees to man its two newly created district engineering offices in the region.

DPWH-ARMM Secretary Emil Sadain said that of the 96 personnel, 54 would be fielded in Maguindanao 1st District Engineering Office and 42 in Lanao Del Sur 2nd District Engineering Office.

“The screening process ensures that there will be no political patronage and the new personnel will be hired based on merit and their fitness,” he said.

The two new engineering offices were recently inaugurated with a budget cost of Php 5-million.

There are presently eight district engineering offices in the ARMM, which is composed of the cities of Lamitan and Marawi and provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu and Tawi-tawi.

The two newly created engineering offices have been operating without regular plantilla, according to Sadain.

He said Lanao del Sur 2nd district engineering office, in particular, was only being manned by a skeletal force for the last 19 years since its establishment in 1995.

Sadain said the approval of the new plantilla by the Department of Budget and Management intends to capacitate the engineering offices in the implementation of various infrastructure projects and the maintenance of roads, bridges, drainages and other infrastructure facilities within the ARMM territorial jurisdiction.

ARMM seeking higher budget for agri in 2015

(PNA), CTB/NYP/EOF

COTABATO CITY, May 22 (PNA) -- To prepare the region for the upcoming new political entity in Mindanao, the agriculture department of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is seeking a bigger budget for 2015.

Agriculture officials said this is to fast track the empowerment of the region's agriculture sector ahead of the establishment of Bangsamoro government, replacing the current ARMM.

Regional Agriculture Secretary Makmod Mending, Jr, said a bigger budget would enable the department to lay down the foundation of a strong and dependable agriculture sector.

“We need just enough budget to sustain the momentum of the now flourishing agricultural projects in the region,” Mending said.

DAF-ARMM officials, led by Mending, had presented and defended their proposed 2015 budget in an initial regional-level budget hearing in Davao City early this week.

Mending refused to elaborate on the specifics of their budget proposal pending presentation to the House of Representatives and Senate for approval.

Mending said the proposed budget hike is intended for the development of an agricultural and eco-tourism research center in Maguindanao's North Upi town, homeland of the ARMM's non-Moro indigenous ethnic Teduray people, and the establishment of the Maridagao rice experiment station, in Maguindanao.

The ARMM agri chief said his office needs additional funds for the DAF-ARMM's climate change mitigation program, and for the implementation of the "Gulayan sa Barangay" in at least 500 barangays, and the putting up of bamboo nurseries in selected areas.

DAF-ARMM employees are optimistic of a positive outcome of the GPH-MILF peace initiative.

On Wednesday, ARMM hosted the first ever ARMM Organic Agriculture Summit ahead of the celebration of the 11th regional farmers and fisherfolks’ achievement and recognition week celebration, to highlight the role of the two sectors in ensuring “food security” in the autonomous region.

Mending said the summit was meant to educate Moro, Christian and lumad peasants on the cost-efficiency and lasting benefits of organic farming.

ARMM is the leading producer of corn and carageenan seaweeds in the island.

DepEd-ARMM renovates century-old school in Maguindanao

(PNA), FPV/NYP

COTABATO CITY, May 21 (PNA) - - A century-old school building in Maguindanao got a much-deserved makeover Tuesday in line with the weeklong Brigada Eskwela program of the Department of Education - Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (DepEd-ARMM) for the school opening in June.

Brigada Eskwela is an annual schools maintenance week program initiated nationwide by DepEd to prepare government educational institutions for accommodation every school year.

DepEd-ARMM officials led by lawyer Jamar Kulayan, regional education secretary, trooped Tuesday to the six-classroom building of the Simuay Seashore Elementary School (SSES) in Barangay Simuay, Sultan Mastura, Maguindanao, to personally look into the renovation of the school.

American missionaries built the SSES, believed to be the oldest in the province, in 1914.

The school caters to some 400 students with five teaching staff.

Kulayan said they have extended Php 300, 000 for the restoration of the building considering its historical value.

He said DepEd engineers recommended a makeover after inspection of the building.

Aside from the restoration, DepEd-ARMM is supporting the construction of another classroom building in the school.

Kulayan said they are also considering the deployment of additional teachers to the school.

DepEd-ARMM in partnership with the Basic Education Assistance for Muslim Mindanao has allotted a total of P3- million to support rehabilitation efforts in at least 150 schools in the region as part of the Brigada Eskwela program.

More than 80 Madaris or Islamic schools in the region are also set to receive financial assistance from DepEd-ARMM this school year.


DSWD-ARMM strengthens partnership with LGUs to fast track dev’t in Lanao Sur

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

MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur, May 20 (PIA) --- The Department of Social Welfare and Development in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (DSWD-ARMM) has strengthened its partnership with the provincial government and the provincial league of mayors to spur development in the province.

The three parties recently forged a tripartite memorandum of agreement (MoA) for the implementation of the Family-Based Livelihood Enterprise cum Cooperative Program under the Pillar II component of the Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan (PAMANA), the national government’s program and framework for peace and development in conflict-affected areas and communities.

A complementary track to peace negotiations, the primary aim of PAMANA is to contribute to lasting peace by reducing poverty and vulnerability in conflict-affected communities. Its Pillar II component facilitates the delivery of improved basic services at the community level through community-driven development (CDD) and community livelihood interventions to build conflict-resilient communities.

Under the tripartite MoA, DSWD-ARMM shall conduct regular monitoring and assessment in all phases of the project implementation, ensure that the provisions of the MoA are followed within the timeline, monitor the implementation of CDD interventions, releases the community cash grants directly to the joint-account of the community livelihood associations with notice of fund transfer to provincial PAMANA teams, and facilitate the conduct of program review and feedback workshop of all stakeholders involved, among others.

The provincial government, on the other hand, shall support the implementation of the program through the provincial PAMANA team which shall act on a supervisory role, and extend technical assistance to municipal PAMANA teams in the implementation of CDD interventions, and in preparing project proposals and financial plans.

Meanwhile, the municipal governments manages the implementation, facilitate organization on barangay assemblies to orient communities about the program and identification for priority projects, provide technical assistance to community facilitators in program implementation or troubleshooting concerns in the ground, among others.

ARMM Vice Governor and DSWD-ARMM Secretary Haroun Alrashid Lucman Jr. said the Family-Based Livelihood Enterprise cum Cooperative Program targets to benefit all the barangays in the province.

He said each barangay will receive P300,000 in the form of livelihood projects such as aqua-culture projects, animal dispersal, cottage industry development, and post-harvest facility.

Newly hired teachers laud DepEd reforms in ARMM

(PNA), JBP/NYP/EOF

COTABATO CITY, May 19 (PNA) –- Newly-hired public school teachers in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) on Monday said reforms have indeed taken place in the recruitment of mentors.

Erwin Magbanua, one of the 900 newly-hired teachers who took their oath over the weekend here, said he was relieved and “saved” since he got his appointment papers based on his qualification and not because he paid his way in the Department of Education.

The “palakasan" system and “appointment for sale” practices in the ARMM are already things of the past with the new administration cleansing one of the most corrupt agencies in the regional government.

About 904 newly hired teachers took their oath in ceremonies held at the 900-seater Shariff Kabunsuan Cultural Complex.

Magbanua who will serve his “kababayans” at Kuya Elementary School in South Upi, Maguindanao, said he was relieved and overjoyed after learning he was among the appointed and will surely have a position come June 2014.

“I have been waiting for this. I don’t have a backer or supporter in the DepEd who would facilitate my appointment,” Magbanua told reporters even as he thanked the administration of Gov. Mujiv Hataman and DepEd-ARMM regional secretary Jamar Kulayan.

Upon assumption as caretaker, Hataman delisted thousands of “ghost teachers” from the old roster of employees of the region’s education department.

After he was elected in 2013, Hataman said the DepEd was now free of “ghost” employees, teachers, buildings, projects and anomalies.

The new teachers are expected to lead other teachers in the education department as it transform from current political set up into new political entity called Bangsamoro government.

Another newly appointed and hired teacher from Lanao del Sur said she had been applying for teaching position in the past administration, to no avail.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the teacher said one education official asked her to shell out P300,000 cash to ensure getting an appointment and land a job in Lanao del Sur.

Aside from appointment for sale practices, the problem of delayed payment of salaries and non-remittance of Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) also marred the DepEd.

Hataman said it was good that the teachers themselves are talking and speaking about the reforms his administration as laid down ahead of the coming of Bangsamoro government.

The Bangsamoro government will replace the current ARMM set-up as a result of the government peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

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

Philippines says Bangsamoro pact legal; Constitution its paramount basis

(Mindanao Examiner)

MANILA - In light of the concerns of critics on the legality of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), Government of the Philippines (GPH) Legal Team head Atty. Anna Tarhata Basman affirmed that the Philippine Constitution has been the paramount basis of the CAB which is now translated into a draft Bangsamoro Basic Law that will be submitted to Congress for passage this year.

"The CAB is legal," Basman said while reiterating that the GPH Peace Panel welcomes the concerns of everyone on the CAB. "We are open to engaging and informing everyone on the different provisions on the CAB."

Constitutional basis

According to Basman, Article X of the Philippine Constitution, which contains provisions on autonomous regions served as the basis for the Bangsamoro's ministerial form of government. “The general guideline it provided for the structure of government of an autonomous region is that the executive and legislative branch of the autonomous government must be elective and representative of the constituent political units."

She said that the republican form of government is entrenched in the Constitution. However, the exact form and mechanism to derive citizen’s representation in the government is not specifically prescribed in the Supreme Law and so it does not exclude other structures of representative democracy.

On the devolution of powers to the Bangsamoro, Basman said that “Section 20 of Article X is the constitutional basis for the listing of devolved powers.” She added that the signed CAB, which lists such power-sharing arrangements between the Central and Bangsamoro governments, has yet to be fleshed out in the Basic Law that will undergo national legislation. “It is therefore up to Congress to determine the extent of the legislative powers to be granted to the Bangsamoro legislative body and the relationship of this power vis-à-vis existing and future national legislations.”

As to the retention of the President’s general supervision over autonomous regions, Atty. Basman said this will continue in the Bangsamoro which respects the power of the national government and national sovereignty. She said that like what has been exercised by the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), the future Bangsamoro government that will replace it will also have devolved powers to regulate its constituent Local Government Units (LGUs).

Basman also assured that the CAB respects the powers of constitutional bodies. She cited excerpts of the CAB that gives “due regard to the powers of the Supreme Court,” “without prejudice to the power, authority and duty of the national Commission on Audit,” and its continued mandate in autonomous regions like the future Bangsamoro.

Basman likewise clarified that the police force for the Bangsamoro will be under the National Police Commission (NAPOLCOM) as required by the Constitution. “Also, having a human rights body specifically catering to the Bangsamoro will not diminish the current powers of the national Commission on Human Rights (CHR) as in fact this arrangement already exists in the form of the Regional Human Rights Commission in the ARMM.”

On the creation of autonomous regions in the country, Atty. Basman underscored that “our Constitution itself provides the justification for the asymmetry and reserved a separate set of provisions for two particular areas in the country – Muslim Mindanao and the Cordilleras.”

“This progressive and enlightened section recognizes the uniqueness of the peoples belonging to these areas and provides for their rightful exercise of self-governance. The Bangsamoro Basic Law as the enabling law for the establishment of the Bangsamoro precisely aims to operationalize this constitutional objective,” she said.

Meanwhile, lawmakers such as Cagayan de Oro Representative Rufus Rodriguez and Magdalo Party-List Representative Francisco Ashley "Ace" Acedillo also affirmed the constitutionality of the CAB during a weekly press briefing held at the House of Representatives. Rep. Rodriguez reiterated that the CAB only provides for enhanced autonomy, negating claims that it creates an independent state.

On her part, GPH Peace Panel Chair Prof. Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, in her recent public speech, said that independence was never an agenda in the negotiations. Atty. Basman also said that the creation of Bangsamoro as a sub-political unit of the Philippine state that respects its territorial integrity and national sovereignty, is far from being a prelude to an independent state. “The Bangsamoro is therefore within the frame of our 1987 Constitution.”

904 teachers appointed in historic ARMM ceremony

By John Unson (philstar.com)

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – A teacher almost got killed on Friday in a motorcycle crash while rushing to the venue of their oathtaking ceremony and another delivered a child even before the program could start, adding colors to the historic event.

Erwin Magbanua, who hails from North Upi town in Maguindanao, said the injuries he sustained in the accident were not enough to weaken and prevent him from taking his oath, along with 904 others, as duly appointed public school teachers in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

The event, held at the 900-seater Shariff Kabunsuan Cultural Complex inside the 32-hectare ARMM compound, was first ever in the 25-year history of the autonomous region.

Magbanua, who will teach at the Kuya Elementary School in South Upi town in Maguindanao, still attended the ceremony with his face heavily bandaged and swollen due to abrasions.

“Matagal kong inasam-asam ito. Di ako ma-appoint noon dahil palakasan ang sistema at wala akong influential na `backer’ kaya di ako naging teacher. Ngayon heto na, dinaan sa malinis na proseso, na-appoint na rin ako sa wakas, salamat sa Hataman administration,” an emotional Magbanua said, in between sobs.

The appointment “en masse” of new teachers for Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, whose credentials were screened extensively by a selection team led by foreign-trained industrial psychologist John Magno, came after Regional Education Secretary Jamar Kulayan and ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman delisted thousands of “ghost teachers” from the old roster of employees of the region’s education department. Nation ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1

Magno, who is the assistant secretary for operations of the Department of Education (DepEd) in ARMM, said the new appointees were made to promise to work hard for the good of the Bangsamoro communities, plagued by high illiteracy, blamed for much of the region’s security woes.

“We now have warm-bodied, `existing body and soul,' very qualified new teachers in Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur and soon the appointments of teachers in the island provinces will come out," Kulayan told reporters.

The ARMM covers Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, which are both in mainland Mindanao, and the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

The DepEd-ARMM was touted as the region’s most corrupt department during past administrations, known for having thousands of ghost teachers, and dozens of non-existent schools that regularly received maintenance and operation grants from the agency's regional office in Cotabato City.

Hataman and Kulayan jointly addressed the irregularities via a cleansing process that started in early 2012.

The process had resulted to the generation by the Hataman administration of close to P1 billion worth of savings from unspent salaries and operation funds the agency received from the central office of the Department of Budget and Management in the past two years.

A newly appointed teacher from Lanao del Sur told reporters she tried to apply for a teaching position in the province during the time of the past administration, but balked when an education official asked for P200,000 in exchange for an appointment.

Teachers then also complained over delays in their salaries and non-remittance of their contributions to the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), causing the suspension of their allowable loan applications and other benefits from GSIS.

“Our teachers now have payroll-type automated bank cards, which serves as conduit for their salaries. No more “red tape,” no more hassles,” Kulayan said.

There are also stories of how past regional officials collected the pay checks, for the first five months, of newly-appointed teachers as “exchange deal” for having facilitated their entry into the DepEd-ARMM.

Corn supply in ARMM still OK amid drought

By Felix Unson

Supply of corn in Maguindanao province and in other parts of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) remain adequate despite the dry spell now devastating rice and corn farms in the area, officials said.

Makmod Mending, Jr., regional secretary of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (DAF-ARMM), said they have started imposing measures meant to cushion the impact of the continuing drought in the province.

Most Moro, Christian and indigenous highland residents in Maguindanao rely on rice and corn farming as main source of income.

Mending said their field technicians are now inspecting scorched rice and cornfields to determine what alternative drought-tolerant short-term crops local farmers can appropriately propagate to cushion the impact of losses due to unfavorable climate.

“We have recommended to them to plant watermelon, peanuts and other kinds of legumes,” he said.

Legumes are also called “nitrogen-fixing plants,” which can biologically restore the fertility of soil.

Mending said provincial agricultural officers in the ARMM provinces of Lanao del Sur, and in the Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi (Basulta) area have also been trying to determine viable alternative approaches to lessen the burden of farmers now complaining of crop failures due to extremely dry weather.

The DAF-ARMM, for now, has enough manpower and resources for now to address the problem, Mending pointed out.

“We will seek the immediate support of the central office of the Department of Agriculture in case we will need its help,” Mending said.

Initial data obtained from Mending’s office indicated that in Maguindanao alone, 2, 273 hectares of corn crops have been withered by the dry spell in the province.

“Reports are still coming in. These inputs will help us plan things out,” Mending said.

Worst hit by the drought are the towns of Datu Hofer, Talayan, North Upi, South Upi and several other municipalities in the first district of Maguindanao.

“Most of the affected farmers belong to the lumad, or indigenous non-Moro peasant communities,” Mending said

Despite the damages wrought by the drought, the autonomous region still have enough supply of corn from local production, according to Mending.

The ARMM’s regional executive secretary, Laisa Alamia, said the regional government’s Humanitarian Emergency Assistance and Relief Team (HEART) has also been monitoring the situation of farmers in areas affected by the drought.

Alamia said the inter-agency HEART, which is operating under the ministerial control of ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman, is now working closely with Mending’s office in planning of measures aimed at mitigating the adverse impact of the drought to the families of affected farmers.

Alamia said they have not received any report of rice and corn shortages yet from the field.

ARMM trains ‘little cultural ambassadors’

(ORRivera-PIA12/BPI-ARMM)

COTABATO CITY, May 15 (PIA) – A group of Moro kids are learning to play the music commonly featured in traditional banquets and enjoyed by their forebears with the help of a cultural workshop introduced by the Bureau on Cultural Heritage in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BCH-ARMM) this summer.

The kids, aged 7-12, are training on theater arts and in playing the kulintang, a traditional percussion instrument, in the course of three weeks.

“This is part of our efforts to preserve and promote the vibrant culture of the Bangsamoro, especially among the younger generations,” said Ardan Sali, BCH-ARMM director.

He said they also hope the group of 23 kids taking part in the summer workshop will serve as the ‘little ambassadors’ of Bangsamoro culture.

“We know these kids can help us promote and keep the vibrant traditions of the Bangsamoro alive,” he said.

Aside from the summer workshop, BCH-ARMM is planning to hold a Regional Cultural Summit this June to bring together the movers and shakers of the Bangsamoro cultural scene.

Dry spell damages 4,200 farmlands in Maguindanao

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

COTABATO CITY, May 14 (PNA) - - A prevailing month-long dry spell has affected 4,200 farmlands, mostly planted with corn, in four towns of Maguindanao, the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries – Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (DAF-ARMM) reported on Wednesday.

Lawyer Macmod Mending Jr., DAF-ARMM chief, identified the drought-affected towns as those of Datu Hoffer, North Upi, Talayan and Datu Odin Sinsuat, all in the second district of the province.

“Severely hit by the dry spell is Datu Hoffer town with over 1,000 hectares of cornfields and 500 farmers affected,” Mending said.

He added that North Upi, though also struck by the extreme weather condition, has some 70 percent recovery of its interrupted harvest from some 1,000 hectares of cornfields.

He pegged the current damage to crops in the province at Php 21.9-million.

“We are still gathering data from other parts of the region regarding the effects of the drought,” Mending stressed.

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

Despite water scarcity, Mending noted that the ARMM remains as a “rice surplus area” with the backing of 230,000 hectares of rice lands in the region.

He maintained that DAF-ARMM remains optimistic in reaching its 630,000 metric tons of rice harvest target for this year, amid the drought expected to end by the third quarter of this year.

Mending said the Department of Agriculture has ordered the full operation of the Kabulnan River Irrigation System and the Malitubog-Maridagao Dam in Central Mindanao, which has the combined capacity to irrigate 10,000 farmlands in Maguindanao and the neighboring provinces of Sultan Kudarat and North Cotabato.

BIFF militiaman nabbed over drugs in Maguindanao

By Dennis Carcamo (philstar.com)

MANILA, Philippines - Security forces arrested a suspected member of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighter in Maguindanao after a surveillance operation turned into a gunbattle, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said on Tuesday.

Belated reports said that combined elements of the PDEA, Philippine National Police and the Philippine Army shot it out with some 10 militiamen of the BIFF under the Commander Marrox Group at the vicinity of Brgy. Sapakan, Rajah Buayan, Maguindanao on May 9.

"The encounter lasted for 30 minutes with the rebels withdrawing towards the northeast direction," PDEA director general Arturo Cacdac Jr. said, adding that the operation is under case operation plan "Uphold Kauranon".

Authorities managed to repulse the gunmen and arrested Datu Naut Sailila, of Pidsandawan, Rajah Buayan, Maguindanao.

Seized from him were a plastic sachet of methamphetamine hydrochloride, or shabu, weighing 10 grams, several drug paraphernalia, five M-16 assault rifles, a hand grenade, a two-way radio antenna, and a bag containing belongings with BIFF markings.

A case for violation of Section 11 (Possession of Dangerous Drugs) and Section 12 (Possession of Drug Paraphernalia), Article II of Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, is being prepared for filing before the Maguindanao Prosecution Office against Sailila.

European envoys search for signs of peace in Mindanao

By Kristine Angeli Sabillo (INQUIRER.net)
European envoys who traveled to Mindanao prior to the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro note the improved peace and order situtation in the area.
A Bangsamoro political entity will replace the ARMM by 2016.
The European envoys note Mindanao’s potential for economic growth.

Belgian Ambassador Roland Van Remoortele had been to Mindanao before. It was a different Mindanao then, he said, as a small group of reporters and diplomats watched him flip through the pictures on his phone. On the small screen the group saw photos of the ambassador on-board a military vehicle or being escorted by heavily-armed soldiers.

“I remember traveling 15 years ago surrounded by bodyguards and armored personnel carriers… Now, apart from the little van, (we had) a few military escorts this afternoon. It was very peaceful. You’ve come a long way already,” he told INQUIRER.net after a meeting with the Bangsamoro Transition Commission in Cotabato City.

More than a dozen years ago, amid the inking of the final peace agreement between the Philippine government and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), parts of the region remained in turmoil as unresolved conflict with other local groups such as the breakaway Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) remained.

Like his fellow ambassadors, Remoortele returned to the region to see, with his own eyes, if the new peace accord with the MILF was already bearing fruit.

On April 25, a month after the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), a group of envoys from the European Union (EU) headed to Mindanao to meet the stakeholders in the peace process.

How is the Bangsamoro proposal being received by the people? Is it enough to address the inequities that caused conflict to arise in the first place? Are the institutions well-equipped to implement the transition? These were just some of the questions that the participants of the EU mission sought to answer.

The EU delegation included ambassadors Guy Ledoux of the European Union, Thomas Ossowski of Germany, Massimo Roscigno of Italy, Josef Muellner of Austria, and Roland Van Remoortele of Belgium; Chargé d’Affaires Trevor Lewis of the British Embassy and Mihai Sion of the Romanian Embassy; deputy ambassadors Hugues-Antoine Suin of France and Jan Vytopil of the Czech Republic, and Senior Program Manager of Spanish Cooperation in the Philippines Carlos Gallego. They were joined by several EU staff, journalists and aid workers.

The death of ARMM

After arriving at Awang Airport in Cotabato City on April 25, the diplomats were whisked to a luncheon meeting with officials of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Atty. Laisa Alamia, Executive Secretary of the ARMM, presented to the visitors a comprehensive report on what the local government had already achieved and what they were aiming for before the establishment of the Bangsamoro political entity.

“By 2015, after the plebiscite, the Bangsamoro will be set up, ARMM will be replaced and we will step down,” she said, explaining that only those under the civil service will be retained by the Bangsamoro.

Alamia said their efforts are now focused on campaigns to promote the CAB and to ready ARMM’s turnover of projects to the future Bangsamoro government.

She said the Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA), which is mandated to lead development programs in the region, has been invited in their activities so transition would be easier.

“There will be proper turnover of the administration (of the region),” Alamia assured the diplomats.

Under the CAB, a Bangsamoro autonomous political entity will replace the ARMM by 2016. Authorities have assured the public that it is not an Islamic state but will be presided over by a ministerial form of government.

The provinces under ARMM will be included in the establishment of the new region, which may encompass Marawi City, Cotabato City, Isabela City, six municipalities of Lanao del Norte (Baloi, Munai, Nunungan, Pantar, Tagoloan and Tangkal) and villages (under the municipalities of Kabacan, Carmen, Aleosan, Pigkawayan, Pikit and Midsayap) that voted for inclusion in the ARMM in 2001, depending on the result of the plebiscite.

Fear of the unknown

However, Alamia admitted that the Bangsamoro has yet to be fully accepted by the residents of some provinces.

“If you go to the grassroots level, particularly in the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, there is a lot of fear of the unknown…So there’s a need to work on bringing down the information to the people,” she said.

The same sentiment was shared by MILF chairman Murad Ebrahim.

From Cotabato City, the EU contingent traveled to Camp Darapanan in Maguindanao, the stronghold of the MILF. Greeted by flags and banners of the Bangsamoro, the diplomats entered MILF territory with just a few police and military escorts.

Heavily armed soldiers of the MILF stood guard by the dirt road that led to the camp.

Murad and members of the MILF central committee met with Ledoux and the other ambassadors to share their thoughts on the peace process and the prospects of the Bangsamoro.

“The Muslim population in the provinces of Maguindanao and Lanao have a higher optimism of acceptance,” he said, adding that it was the same for Basilan but not for Sulu and Tawi-Tawi. Murad said this is because the MILF political organization is not as strong in the said provinces as it is in Maguindanao.

Nevertheless, he said they are working hard to inform the rest of the population on the vision and prospects of the Bangsamoro.

Austrian ambassador Muellner said that while “There is a lot of skepticism” both the Philippine government and the MILF will just have to work hard to make the peace process more inclusive.

Another challenge that the Bangsamoro is facing is the amendment and approval of the Bangsamoro Basic Law, which will pave the way for the plebiscite in 2016.

“Congress may try to change some provisions of the Basic Law. It could be watered down. This is one of the challenges we foresee,” Murad said.

The MILF chairman said they will have to convince lawmakers that the law should not be diluted because it is a crucial part of the peace agreement and a product of four decades of “hard negotiations…hard struggle of the Bangsamoro (people).” Cycle of violence and poverty

Later in the afternoon, the diplomats went further into Camp Darapanan, which also serves as a village for MILF members and their families.

Inside the camp is a small school where an EU-funded program on mine risk education training was being held. The diplomats were able to interact with the children and some residents who were given a certificate for finishing the training course. They were also given a run down of the mine and unexploded ordnance (UXO) situation in the area.

The concern of security was further discussed during a forum with the Mindanao business sector.

The Mindanao Business Council (MinBC) said a lot still need to be done to promote economic progress in the area.

During the forum, German ambassador Ossowki admitted that it would be difficult for the diplomats to convince entrepreneurs to invest in the region “if security problems exist.”

“I believe there must be ways and means to address the security issue here within the community before we generate jobs,” he said.

But MinBC chairman Vic Lao said poverty is the first thing that must be resolved if people want to maintain peace.

“When you generate livelihood and poverty is resolved then maybe you resolve the issue on terrorism, you resolve the issue of kidnapping because people will be having jobs and they will not be thinking of joining rebels because they are busy making a living,” he said. Other members of the MinBC pointed out that the Normalization annex of the CAB should be able to address the security problem, though it would take a while since the peace deal itself is a long transition process.

The annex on Normalization, finalized two months before the CAB was inked, details the laying down of weapons of MILF members and their transition to civilian life. It describes normalization as a process through which the communities affected by the conflict in Mindanao can return to peaceful life and pursue sustainable livelihood.

In the meantime, the businessmen suggested that foreign investors could tap local partners who are more knowledgeable in the “terrain” and the risks involved in doing business in Mindanao.

Engine of growth

The evening was capped off by a sumptuous dinner and cultural presentations at the Bangsamoro Transition Commission’s (BTC’s) office in Cotabato City.

EU Ambassador Ledoux praised the commission not only for the “excellent food” and the dances, which featured the culture of the various tribes of Mindanao, but also for their “amazing job” in crafting the draft of the Bangsamoro Basic Law. During separate interviews, some of the ambassadors noted the potential of Mindanao for economic growth, especially since it is rich in resources.

Remorteele said, “Mindanao can be an engine of growth for the Philippines. That’s why I think this agreement, this Bangsamoro peace agreement is very important.”

“There’s a lot of underdevelopment but I believe that with the peace process, development will set in and eventually help the people develop their communities, develop their infrastructure because I think there’s a lot of potential in this island,” German ambassador Ossowski added.

Making peace work

The next day, the diplomats went back to Maguindanao to visit Kurintem, a village that has been benefiting from the Mindanao Trust Fund, which is administered by the World Bank. After donating an additional P500 million, EU remains the biggest contributor in the multi-donor trust fund.

Kurintem has received six water supply systems and a community center through the fund.

Meeting with the residents at the center, the diplomats listened to how the new facilities had changed the lives of the locals. They also expressed their own thoughts on the peace process, which was met with optimism by the residents.

“The European Union is a group of countries that have been fighting for centuries and finally found way of making peace and working together,” Ledoux said during his short speech. “That’s why we are very much supporting of peace and we have been supporting the peace process here in Mindanao for many years.”

Before rushing back to the airport, Ledoux told INQUIRER.net that they were happy that there was so much optimism on the ground.

Italian ambassador Roscigno agreed, saying, “I think that it’s really important to come and see with your own eyes and hear with your own ears what’s happening because it’s not the same as reading reports or reading on the press. I am coming back to Manila tomorrow with a clearer view and I would say more optimism from what I’ve seen.” “As Ambassador Ledoux said, the road is still long. We’re not there yet. (But) at least now there’s light at the end of the tunnel,” Remoortele said.

Moro execs support peaceful rallies backing peace process

(PNA)

Officials are in favor of peaceful rallies as better means of expressing support to the enactment by Congress of the Basic Bangsamoro Law (BBL) and to show how Moro folks seek political solutions to the Moro issue in most proper decorum.

Already, local officials assured not to stand against peaceful rallies — such as those held in many parts of Mindanao on May 5 — to appeal for the prompt enactment by Congress of the Basic Bangsamoro Law (BBL).

Thousands of Moro folks joined in the series of rallies in key Mindanao cities, where speakers took turns calling on Congress to immediately pass the draft BBL into law once submitted by Malacañang for enactment.

However, it was learned from news reports and information fed via text by reporters covering the Office of the President that the draft BBL has not even reached the desk of President Benigno Aquino III, apparently still being studied by Malacañang’s pool of lawyers.

Published reports and newsfeeds from online media websites had also indicated that Malacañang has not submitted to Congress last May 5 the draft BBL for enactment. The President will certify the draft law an urgent bill, as he had promised during his previous pronouncements.

Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu told reporters Tuesday he was saddened by reports purporting that local officials in some areas outside of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao had opposed the conduct of Sunday’s supposedly simultaneous rallies in their turfs.

The rallies were merely intended to show support to the enactment of the draft BBL.

“Peaceful rallies meant to dramatize a common position on anything under the sun, or to air grievances, are far from being bloody and morbid. We will not oppose any peaceful rally in the province in support of the peace process,” Mangudadatu said.

Mangudadatu said encouraging local folks to participate in peaceful rallies that are related to peace-building, and propagation of Muslim-Christian unity, is one way of educating the public on the “backwardness” of using firearms to seek redress.

Mangudadatu said he was fascinated seeing television footage showing how Moro folks behaved calmly as they converged for Sunday’s rallies in different parts of Mindanao and, subsequently, dispersed and returned to their hometowns peacefully, too.

Gov. Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao said he had instructed his executive secretary, Laisa Alamia, and Anwar Malang, who is regional secretary for local government, to let the police secure peaceful rallies in support of the peace process in any part of the autonomous region.

“Mas mabuti ang ganyang mga rallies kaysa gyera. In peaceful rallies we can build consensus together and we can show to the whole nation and the whole world that Moro people adhere to proper decorum and are civilized people. That is one of the reforms we in the ARMM are trying to introduce into the region,” Hataman said in his text message.

Hataman said Islam has extensive teachings on participatory democracy and exhaustion of all peaceful means of resolving community issues and concerns.

“Sa mga ganyang prayer rallies, mas maganda ang mensaheng nai-papaabot natin sa national government at sa international community. Walang nasasaktan at walang evacuations. Mas maganda ang resulta ng ating efforts,” Hataman said.

He said it is not good to curtail freedom of expression, especially if done via peaceful rallies.

“The Constitution assures us of that right,” Hataman said.

The draft BBL had been submitted almost two weeks ago by the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) to Malacañang for a final review before its turn over to the House of Representatives for enactment. President Benigno Aquino III will certify the draft law as an urgent bill.

The BBL, once enacted and ratified into law through a plebiscite in areas inside the Bangsamoro core territory, will, in effect, replace the ARMM with an MILF-led, more politically and administratively empowered Bangsamoro political entity.

Leaders of the House of Representatives prodded Malacañang on Wednesday to submit the proposed BBL as soon as possible to give lawmakers enough time to study the document.

Majority Leader and Mandaluyong City Rep. Neptali Gonzales II said the chamber should be given ample time to check the document for possible unconstitutional provisions.


Army officer warns CAFGU vs involvement in illegal drugs

(PNA)

COTABATO CITY – A military battalion commander has warned members of the Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU) that if they would be proven to be involved in illegal drugs, the full force of the law is applied to them, with dismissal from service as penalty.

Colonel Roy Galido, commander of the 38th Infantry Battalion whose unit supervises militiamen in Maguinanao, North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat, issued the warning after a militiaman was caught peddling methamphetamine hydrochloride or “shabu” Monday near a roadside detachment in Maguindanao.

Militiaman Datu Ali Salik Nor is now in the custody of the regional office of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in Cotabato City.

Galido said the 38th IB is now processing the delisting of Nor from the roster of bona fide CAFGU members in Central Mindanao.

The 22-year-old Nor was arrested by PDEA agents, disguised as drug buyer, on May 6 while in the act of selling shabu to a poseur buyer.

“The Philippine Army does not tolerate such illegal act. He will be discharged from the service,” Galido told reporters.

Before Nor, Galido said three enlisted members of the 38th IB were discharged due to their illegal drug involvement.

“Soldiers and militiamen must be upright, free from illegal activities and must uphold the Constitution. How can a drug dependent perform his sworn duty if he is into illegal drugs,” Galido said, adding that it is very dangerous for a law enforcer to be carrying firearms while engaged in illegal drugs.

PDEA agents seized an unlicensed cal. 38 from Nor, undetermined amount of prohibited substance and other shabu paraphernalia.

PDEA agents were running after a certain Tuli Alfonso, during the drug buy bust operations when they cornered Nor.

Alfonso managed to elude arresting officers.

WFP, ARMM corn project starts in Maguindanao

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

COTABATO CITY, May 9 (PNA) -- In few months, Moro farmers will start harvesting corn after the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao started Wednesday dispersing high-grade seeds to Moro peasants involved in a 300-hectare communal corn farming project in Maguindanao.

The community corn farm project is located in Barangay Sifaran in the town of Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao.

A joint initiative of the United Nations' WFP and the ARMM agriculture and fishery department, it was launched last month with officials from two agencies in attendance.

The project that involved about 300 farmers will showcase the viability of large-scale corn production in fertile lands in Maguindanao.

Makmod Mending, Jr., ARMM regional agriculture secretary, said the release of the corn seeds was accompanied by distribution of rice to farmer-beneficiaries to sustain them while awaiting for the harvest season.

A symbolic turn over program for high grade corn seeds was held at DAF-ARMM and witnessed by ARMM Regional Executive Secretary Laisa Alamia, WFP's Mihret Bizuneh, and Hadji Salik Panalunsong, Maguindanao provincial agriculture officer.

Alamia represented ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman who was still out of the country. She said the project was being implemented in consultation with the stakeholders.

Alamia explained that the project was carefully studied with the active participation of the beneficiary so it was not enforced to the community.

Aside from improving the farmers' income, the project will hasten the restoration of normalcy in Barangay Sifaran which had been rocked by armed conflict in the past making its residents unproductive for years, she said.

It will also boost local economy and complement the implementation of the government's peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Alamia said.

ARMM bags 3 golds in Palarong Pambansa

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

MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur, May 8 (PIA) --- The delegation from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) to the 2014 Palarong Pambansa bagged a total of three gold, two silver and four bronze medals in Wrestling and Taekwando competition as of today, May 8.

ARMM contingent already registered nine wins. They bagged three gold, one silver and one bronze in the Taewando pomsae or exhibition.

Further, they garnered one silver and three bronze medals in the wrestling division.

Now on its fifth day, the Palarong Pambansa is held in Laguna from May 4 to 10.

It is participated by 447 athletes representing the region led by ARMM Education Secretary Jamar Kulayan.

“We have improved a lot from our last Palarong Pambansa participation,” said Regional Sports Coordinating Office Executive Director Al-Trekee Dayan.

Dayan, along with Kulayan, is in Laguna to supervise and see the performance of the ARMM delegation.

In last year’s Palaro in Dumaguete, ARMM was one of the only two regions that did not win a single gold medal.

“We made a big leap because of the hardwork of the athletes, trainers and coaches. And the unwavering support of the regional government through its education department headed by Atty. Kulayan,” Dayan said

ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman congratulated the winning athletes and said that the region is proud of them. He also thanked the officials, coaches and teachers that supervise the regional athletes.

ARMM holds human right summit in Zamboanga City

(PNA), LAM/TPGJR/UTB

ZAMBOANGA CITY — The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is holding Tuesday a Human Rights Summit in this city.

Regional Human Rights Commission (RHRC) Chairperson Atty. Algamar Latiph said the Human Rights Summit 2014 is aimed at Strengthening Institutions for Peace and Human Rights.

The Summit is also aimed to know the situation “on the ground” as far as respect for human rights is concern.

The RHRC convenes the participants to level off their understanding of the current issues within their respective areas, possible causes or contributory factors.

The participants of the Summit are local government officials, security sectors, civil society organizations, non-government organizations, academe from the island province of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

Invited guests include Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Chairperson Loretta Ann Rosales, CHR Commissioner Atty. Jose Manuel Mamauag and representatives of the European Union delegation to the Philippines.

ARMM all set for resumption of voters’ registration today

By Oliver Ross V. Rivera

COTABATO CITY, May 6 (PIA) – Officials of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao said they are ready for today’s resumption of the voter’s registration.

According to COMELEC-ARMM Director Atty. Rey Sumalipao, Comelec offices in ARMM will be open for registration five days a week, from Sunday to Thursday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The registration period, which runs until October 31, 2015 is part of the preparation for the local and national elections scheduled in May 2016.

Sumalipao urged the registrants to take advantage of the early start of the registration period.

“We encourage them to go to Comelec offices in their areas starting today and don’t wait for last minute registration.” Sumalipao said.

Aside from the new registrations, the poll body is encouraging voters in the region who still don’t have biometrics data, to validate their records so they could vote in the May 2016 elections.

Atty. Sumalipao cited Cotabato City and Isabela City, Basilan as areas with almost 50,000 voters with no biometrics data.

The registration will also include new voters for those who are 18 years old up and reactivation of registration (for voters whose records were deactivated after skipping two successive preceding regular elections), transfer of registration to another city or municipality, and correction of entries in voter records.

Sumalipao meanwhile requested registrants to bring the requirements, especially and ID with photo, for faster processing.

Voters may also be asked to present supporting documents (e.g., birth certificate or proof of billing) if there are issues regarding their personal data or address, Sumalipao added.

Lanao del Sur residents press for passage of Bangsamoro Basic Law

By Cris Diaz [(PNA), LGI/CD/UTB]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, May 5 (PNA) -– About 40,000 people in Lanao del Sur held simultaneous rally in Marawi City and the municipal town of Balo-i on Sunday to press Congress for the immediate passage of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), that would create an autonomous “Bangsamoro homeland” in Mindanao.

About 30,000 residents in Marawi City joined the pro-BBL rally in the city’s downtown district known to the Maranaos as “Banggolo” while another 10,000 people participated in a separate rally in the municipal town of Balo-i, the largest municipal town in Lanao del Sur on the borders of Iligan City in Lanao del Norte.

Second Vice Chairman Ustadz Ali Solaiman said that with the passage of the BBL, the transition of the present Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) would be expedited and the establishment of the autonomous Bangsamoro homeland would take place.

“The early approval of the proposed BBL will pave the way for the establishment of a lasting peace in Mindanao that would provide opportunities of growth for both the Christians and Muslims in the island,” Solaiman said in an interview with the PNA.

Solaiman said the simultaneous rally in the provinces and cities under the ARMM region was a civilian initiative that dramatized the people’s support of the early passage of the BBL.

A rally participant in Balo-i said she was happy that the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) reached an agreement to end the armed conflict in Mindanao.

In his speech, Commissioner Said Sheik, one of the members of the 15-man transition committee who drafted the BBL, told the crowd in Balo-i that the passage of the BBL would be a victory of the government and the Bangsamoro people.

The 15-man Bangsamoro Transition Committee (BTC) was created as provided in the approved Bangsamoro Framework Agreement. Eight members of the BTC represent the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) while the seven other members were representatives from the government panel.

Sheik said the passage of the BBL is necessary so that the Organic Law 9054 that created the existing ARMM could be repealed and allow the creation of the autonomous Bangsamoro Homeland.

He said the Bangsamoro Homeland will still cover the five existing provinces under the ARMM region. These are the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Basilan, Tawi-tawi, and Sulu.

According to Sheik, the expansion and the identification of the new autonomous Bangsamoro Homeland will depend on the result of the plebiscite that will follow after Congress approved the passage of the BBL.

DOST to fly plane for ARMM hazard mapping

By Edwin O. Fernandez [PNA), SCS/NYP/EOF]

COTABATO CITY, May 4 (PNA) -- To scientifically determine hazardous areas in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) will fly a plane over the ARMM provinces to survey the region for hazard preparedness, officials said on Sunday.

The activity is part of DOST’s project together with the University of the Philippines dubbed as Disaster Risk and Exposure Assessment for Mitigation (DREAM),a component of the Project NOAH or Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards.

“The plane will gather information on the region using a technology called LiDAR or Light Detection and Ranging to produce high-resolution, detailed, and up-to-date elevation maps and data sets,” said DOST Assistant Secretary Raymund Liboro during DOST’s hazard preparedness information campaign held here recently.

“The plane gets information on the area by ‘throwing’ laser over the areas it covers,” Liboro explained about the flying session to be undertaken very soon.

LiDAR is the state-of-the-art technology in getting topographic information on a certain area.

Conventional surveying such as that done by geodetic engineers using surveying and mapping equipment will take six years while a newer technology called "photogrammetry" that uses planes to take pictures will take one-and-a-half years.

On the other hand, LiDAR can finish the same job in 6.7 seconds at 150 khz, according to Czar Jakiri Sarmiento of the DREAM-LiDAR.

The information to be gathered by the plane’s LiDAR equipment will be used to develop hazard maps showing the vulnerability of communities to certain natural hazards.

The maps will be based on flood models and, used with the Integrated Flood Early Warning System, will be able to give people and communities at least six hours' notice to prepare for impending floods and other disasters.

The DREAM-LiDAR mapping plane to fly in August will start with Basilan, then Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

“Processing of information is usually done in three months so we can confidently say that we will be able to produce ARMM’s hazard map by next year," Liboro said.

DOST made the announcement during the department’s disaster preparedness campaign called “Science for Safer Communities: Iba na ang Panahon” participated in by mayors, disaster risk reduction officers and other officials from BASULTA (Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi).

Participants were trained on how to use DOST-developed hazard maps and prepare action plans in case of disasters.

Secretary Myrah Alih, DOST-ARMM regional secretary, said there is no substitute for being prepared in doing things either for personal, private or public purposes.

“Preparedness is more important than rescue as we save more lives if we are ready when disaster comes. LGUs should stress on this,” said Alih.

Liboro said DOST works with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) in conducting the information campaign in all regions nationwide in coordination with the Office of Civil Defense.

DILG-ARMM Assistant Secretary Sharifa Pearlsia Alih said that the task of building safe and disaster-resilient Philippines is “still a work in progress” as she stressed the importance of using science and technology-based tools in preparing for disasters.

To date, DOST has installed 46 sensors all over ARMM to help the region monitor rainfall, water level, and stream level to prepare for disasters such as flooding, earthquake, tsunami, and others.

DA-ARMM holds Halal Business Forum in Basilan

By Rene V. Carbayas (FPG/RVC/PIA9-ZBST)

LAMITAN CITY, Basilan, May 3 (PIA) – The agriculture department of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) agriculture gathered some entrepreneurs, business establishments, restaurant owners and all those in the food industry, including some government agencies, for the Halal Business Forum held here recently.

Dr. Surhayda T. Aguisanda, provincial veterinarian and concurrent ROS superintendent for Halal Industry in Basilan, said that the billion dollar potential of Halal Industry remains untapped in the ARMM region.

“The Philippines has a halal market of 8 million Muslims or 10% of the Philippine population, bigger than all other Asian countries except for Malaysia and Indonesia. And ARMM is thickly populated with Muslim communities at 3.8 million or 97% of total ARMM population,” she explained.

She added that the Muslim population around the globe accounts for 1.8 billion, or about one-fourth of the world’s population.

“It is estimated, therefore, that the market value of Halal food for Muslims could reach as high as $150,000-200,000 million with a possibility of increasing to $500,000 million,” she said.

Dr. Aguisanda further revealed that a study had showed that most of the Muslim countries, especially those in the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia are the main importers of food and agricultural products from the developed countries such as the European Union, Australia, New Zealand, North America (exclusively USA and Canada) and some developing countries, such as Brazil, India, and China.

“It is obvious that those significant suppliers of food products for Muslim countries are non-Muslim, thus the claim from some developing Muslim countries about the advantage of being a Muslim country may not prove to be true as an effective marketing strategy in this case,” she noted.

She challenged the participants who are in food production and processing that the key success in Halal market must be the strength of the manufacturing standard of the country. And that these suppliers of food products to Muslim countries should create an image of high standard in manufacturing and safety, as well as the aptness to Islamic laws.

The Halal Business Forum was held last April 10 at the FITS Center of Sta. Clara Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Integrated Development Cooperative Inc. in Sta. Clara, this city.

During the forum Dr. Norodin A. Kuit of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and ARMM Halal Program Focal Person led the participants to understanding the different aspects of the Halal Industry and the ASEAN Economic Community 2015.

Kuit said that with the ASEAN integration, the more ARMM must fast track the development of the Halal Industry and appealed for local government unit’s support to the industry.

“There is no 100 percent Halal products in the Philippines, thus this calls for more efforts to achieve the goal,” he said.

Meanwhile, Dr. Sherwin Kasim, vice-chairman of the Muslim Mindanao Halal Certification Board Inc. provincial committee explained the certification process of the Board.

In his closing remarks, Eugene B. Strong, OIC-Provincial Agricultural Officer of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries-ARMM challenged the provincial government of Basilan to develop a roadmap of the Halal Industry in Basilan that will provide food security and halal (a healthy way of living).

Maguindanao health workers attend to measles cases

(PNA), LAP/NYP

COTABATO CITY, May 2 (PNA) -- Health workers in Maguindanao are now working double time to contain what health officials said was an outbreak of measles in the province, officials said today.

Dr. Tahir Sulaik, Maguindanao health chief, corroborated the declaration of Dr. Kadil Sinolinding of an outbreak of measles in Maguidanao's 36 towns.

Sulaik said last year, during the fist three months of 2013, Maguindanao had zero measles cases.

This year, from January 1 to March 31, the Maguindanao Integrated Provincial Health Office, has monitored 176 cases which Sulaik said is very alarming.

Earlier, Dr. Sinolinding who is the regional health secretary of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) placed the entire province with an outbreak of disease after 37 cases were confirmed by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM).

Following the discovery of the alarming number of dengue cases, Sulaik said his office is conducting anytime a massive immunization of children in all Maguindanao towns.

Sulaik said his office has already requested from the national office of the Department of Health for more vaccines to arrest the increasing number of measles, a disease highly contagious through the air.

He said most of the patients were children aged 0 to five years old.

No fatality was reported, according to Sulaik.

Construction of Jolo drainage system underway

By John Unson (philstar.com)

SULU, Philippines – Workers are trying to finish the construction of a drainage system in downtown Jolo to prevent flooding during the rainy season.

The Department of Public Works and Highways in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and the office of ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman decided to construct the drainage system last year after five Jolo residents, one of them an infant, perished in a flashflood that hit the town in February 2011.

“People in Sulu, in Jolo in particular, were not familiar with such kind of calamity because the province has never been hit by any massive typhoon since time immemorial,” said Engineer Hadji Emil Sadain, the ARMM’s public works secretary, himself an ethnic Tausog who was born and raised in Jolo, Sulu's capital town.

“This project will help protect Jolo from a repeat of that calamity. This is also part of the preparations to cushion the impact of climate change in this part of the country,” Sadain’s deputy, Engineer Don Loong, said.

Sadain and Loong on Wednesday inspected together the multi-million drainage project, which cuts through Jolo’s commercial hubs, hit in 2011 by 10-feet flashfloods.

Sadain said they are thankful to Sulu Gov. Abdusakur Tan II and the incumbent mayor of Jolo, Hussin Amin, for supporting the implementation of the project.

He said the project is implemented in a transparent manner.

He said journalists based in Sulu, and in nearby Tawi-Tawi and Zamboanga City have full access to the fiscal records of the project.

The ARMM’s public works department has yet to fix the damage wrought by a storm surge that hit the Jolo wharf when stong winds from the sea hit the province last year.

“It was something also new and strange for Sulu folks,” Sadain said.

The storm surge destroyed portions of the Jolo wharf and several stilt houses on the coast of the municipality, causing the dislocation of hundreds of families.

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