A traditional Moro welcome will greet President Rodrigo Duterte during his October 29 visit to the seat here of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) to launch ARMM’s expanded humanitarian and peace programs.
His October 29 sortie at the ARMM capitol in southeast of Cotabato City is his first since his June 30 assumption to the presidency following the May 9 polls that catapulted him to power via a plurality electoral mandate from 16 million Filipinos.
ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman on Wednesday said Duterte’s launching of anti-poverty programs designed by regional officials is a tacit indication of his strong commitment to the southern peace process.
“We have a president who is so focused on addressing the issues and concerns besetting the Moro sectors and for that we are so thankful,” said Hataman, who was reelected to a second term also last May 9.
The ARMM government has been implementing since 2012 major anti-poverty programs complementing the socio-economic components of the Mindanao peace process, particularly those meant to improve the welfare and productivity of residents in the autonomous region.
The ARMM, which covers Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, both in mainland Mindanao and the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, are common bastions of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).
The Hataman administration is also engaged in extensive socio-economic interventions and infrastructure projects in impoverished towns in Sulu, touted as the country’s poorest and most dangerous province.
Peace activists in ARMM, among them members of the Catholic and Islamic communities, blame the poor performance by local executives for all the security woes besetting Sulu, known throughout the world as haven of the dreaded Abu Sayyaf.
The Abu Sayyaf is feared for its practice of beheading captives snatched from abroad and nearby Mindanao regions if ransom demands are not met.
Duterte has actively been reaching out to both the MNLF and the MILF to hasten the Mindanao peace process.
The largest of three factions in the MNLF, led by former Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema, and the MILF central committee already agreed to help each other push forward a common peace roadmap needed to put a diplomatic closure to the nagging Mindanao Moro issue.
Among the ARMM’s current poverty-alleviation programs are the community-based interventions “Apat na Dapat” and the Health, Education, Livelihood, Peace and Security Synergy, or HELPS.
The Apat na Dapat is focused on providing villagers with shelter, water and sanitation, power supply in houses, and food and livelihood.
The regional government earmarked P240 million for its poverty alleviation programs for calendar years 2015 to 2016.
Duterte thrice visited Maguindanao province in the past three months. Cotabato City, where ARMM’s capitol is located, is in the first district of the province. His planned October 29 official visit to the regional government center is his first.
Regional officials and representatives from the Presidential Management Staff are now planning the reception program for the president and his entourage.
Hataman on Wednesday also reaffirmed his administration’s support to Duterte’s effort to address the now four-decade Moro problem.
Hataman reiterated his promise to relinquish his post and facilitate a transition from ARMM to a more politically-empowered MILF-led self-governing outfit the group and Duterte may possibly establish based on the March 27, 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro (CAB).
The CAB is a product of 17 years of tedious negotiations between the MILF and the national government.
“I am ready to step down if there is a need to cut my three-year term as an implication of the ongoing Duterte-MILF peace initiative. No problem with me,” Hataman said.
Hataman’s office is presently implementing more than P5 billion worth of infrastructure projects in far-flung areas in Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur where there are government-acknowledged MILF camps.
The costly projects were designed to hasten the restoration of normalcy in these war-torn areas by generating livelihood opportunities for guerrillas the MILF leadership and Duterte wants to usher back into mainstream society.
http://www.philstar.com/nation/2016/10/26/1637541/duterte-visit-cotabato-launching-mindanao-peace-programs
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