Friday, January 3, 2014

2014: PEACE TO BRING MORE INVESTMENTS IN ARMM

2014:  PEACE TO BRING MORE INVESTMENTS IN ARMM

COTABATO CITY, January 2, 2014 – The year 2013 has just finished with a resounding investment boom in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) with a record of P1.463 billion registered with its Regional Board of Investments (RBOI).

This year 2014 is set to repeat the achievement of 2013 in bringing more than P1 billion investments to ARMM.  Indeed, investment prospects in ARMM are set to take-off in 2014.

According to RBOI chief Ishak Mastura, while four firms registered with the RBOI in 2014, he foresees at least eight or more firms registering with RBOI 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, 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.

The banana export industry has been a mainstay for RBOI in terms of registration of their investments.  Now, mining firms in the ARMM are beginning to realize the advantages of registering their investments with RBOI.

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 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.  Lastly, infrastructure investments are set to grow in the region after decades of neglect brought about by instability, which are now on the mend after the peace agreement with the MILF, so the prospects are good for the construction and allied industries in the region.  (Source: RBOI)

Sunday, September 23, 2012

ARMM execs to clans in feud: Do it in sports, hugs, not guns

COTABATO CITY—Officials and workers of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao joined hands for a twin fete, even as one family to exude bonding helps bridge reconciliation to individuals and groups at odds, starting with Family Week and Month of Peace in September.

ARMM Officer-In-Charge Governor Mujiv Hataman said most cases of conflict in predominantly Muslim areas are rooted on rido, or family feud, which is often likened to martial law. It can be recalled that Ferdinand Marcos made public his declaration of martial law over a nationwide telecast on September 23, 1972, which, he said, he signed on September 21 that year.

Hataman said that in one village in Sumisip, Basilan dozens were killed in a family feud that started with a simple altercation on road. A man whose cloth got soiled by a tricycle passing by shot the driver dead. The same day, the relatives of the slain man retaliated and slew three more persons, the shooting man and two of his relatives, Hataman recalled.

Hataman challenged families locked in decades political or land disputes to instead fight it out in sports events that the regional government has organized in celebration of the peace month, and family week.

ARMM Assemblywoman Samira Gutoc said in the countdown to the election fever in October, political clans and families should end political feuds. “Why not consult each other through intermediaries before filing of candidacies so that violence can be ended ,” she urged would-be-candidates. Moro tradition, Gutoc said, cooler-heads emissaries to mediate parties in conflict.
The Department of Education has declared September 22-30 as Family Week, while the region also joins observance of the Month of Peace, holding various sports events participated in by employees of its agencies.

Hataman’s office and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)-ARMM gathered hundreds of employees at the Shariff Kabunusan Complex, here for a family week being celebrated with the theme “Ensuring Work-Family Balance.”

Gutoc warned that vendetta killings resulting from cases of rido which are still prevalent in some parts of the region, can hamper reform programs in the new ARMM. She recalled that three persons were killed during the weeklong re-registration period on July 9-18, because of cases of pre-election period disputes. “Political violence in ARMM affects children’s futures and will always bring us back to ground zero.”Family and clan feuds, known locally as rido, are characterized by sporadic outbursts of retaliatory violence between families and kinship groups, as well as between communities, she explained.

“Without clans supporting reform in ARMM, breakthroughs in corruption cannot be overcome. We in ARMM have strong family ties. In the hierarchy of influences, the family is second to Almighty God. Thus, I firmly believe reform within the family can reform the society, as well,” Gutoc said. She said, “Political leaders must help in voter’s education by supporting the ulama in spreading sermons about values of unity and good governance. It is in the best interest of ARMM to end vote-buying now by showing the value of collaboration among governments and communities.”

“Government must invest in alternative dispute resolution mechanisms such as the supporting the Sultanates as a traditional institution,” she added.

P 3.9 B ODA for ARMM kids’ education gets Palace nod

COTABATO CITY—The national government trains its priorities on generating foreign assistance to improve the state of education in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), where millions of pesos in public funds for its schoolchildren’s education had reportedly gone to corruption during the past two decades.

President Benigno Aquino III, who also chairs the National Development Authority Board (NEDA) Board, said the board approved on September 18 the utilization of P 3.93 billion in overseas development assistance (ODA) for a six-year funding program to improve education for ARMM children.

Earlier, ARMM Officer-In-Charge Governor Mujiv Hataman formed an anti-graft monitoring body which unearthed that “millions of pesos” in public funds were wasted to construction of schools that did not exist after all, said Assistant Secretary Darwin Rasul of the region’s Office of Special Concerns (OSC).

This time, the Department of Education in the ARMM has proposed the new funding program under Basic Education Assistance for Muslim Mindanao (BEAM-ARMM) of the Australian Agency for International Aid (AusAid), said ARMM Education Secretary Jamar Kulayan.

Kulayan said Hataman, as member of the NEDA Board himself, defended the new ODA funding program for the ARMM, the third of four items approved by the board.

The other items in the NEDA Board’s approval are: Modernization of the Philippine Orthopedic Center (POC), P 5.69 billion; Development Objective Agreement between the Republic of the Philippines and the United States of America on Family Health Improved, P 8.94 billion, and Additional Financing for the World Bank-assisted Land Administration and Management Project (LAMP 2), P 2.68 billion.

Hataman said the new ODA funding program for the ARMM consisted of several projects to be implemented in six year-period, from 2012 to 2018.

He said the education support projects cost P 3.93 billion, and under the NEDA-approved DepEd-ARMM proposal, AusAid would be providing a total financing assistance program amounting to P 3.57 billion.

“This involves the improvement of basic education in the ARMM, through engagements of key activities in different areas (covering) infrastructure, health and sanitation, technical-vocational training, and access to education,” said a NEDA board statement released by the office of Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan.

The statement said the new Beam AusAid assistance package “aims to improve management and teaching capacities through training of education heads and teachers; enhance learning environment through the construction and repair of classrooms and other school facilities; improve school health conditions through the construction of toilets and hand-washing facilities, and training of school health personnel and teachers; improve livelihood opportunities through technical-vocational training for out-of-school-children and youth; and improve access to pre-school and elementary education through construction of community learning centers for elementary and support for preschool (programs).” NBM, BPI-ARMM

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

SENATORS challenged ghost-busting Governor Mujiv Hataman to 2013 polls


SENATORS challenged ghost-busting Governor Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) to seek the people’s mandate in an election to keep track of his efforts to reform the graft-laden region.

At the Senate budget hearing for the ARMM Monday (yesterday), Senators Loren Legarda and Franklin Drilon also said they wanted government agencies to fully devolve their development programs to the autonomous region.

“One-and-year-and-eight-month (period) is too short to continue with your reform (agenda), napakaganda ng ginawa mo (you’ve done excellent job) you better run next year,” Legarda said, referring to the May 2013 ARMM elections which have been synchronized, under Republic Act 10153, with the mid-term congressional, and local elections.

Hataman was almost speechless, saying there was a “legal impediment,” but Drilon cut him short with assurance that “there is no legal impediment” under RA 10153 which reset the ARMM elections, from August 8, last year to May 2013.

“We are not here to rock the budget of the ARMM under a credible leadership,” Drilon said, drawing applause from the audience.

Drilon also hailed President Aquino for appointing Hataman as ARMM officer-in-charge governor in December last year, saying the Chief Executive’s decision showed that “elections do not necessarily select a good leader.”   

Hataman told senators that his administration has done away with political influence in determining the region’s community projects, and instead allowed the participation of civil society organizations in programs review in order to generate precise bases for ARMM agencies in utilizing government resources.

He said the regional government has generated P 59 million in savings out of protecting public funds from political influence over allocation of infrastructure projects.  

Hataman has been tagged “ghost-buster” by President Benigno Aquino III during his Third State of the Nation Address last month, after the former successfully dismantled mills of fake payrolls in the region’s Department of Education, which Chief Executive said carried “names of spurious teachers, teaching non-existing students, walking along ghost roads that led to ghost schools.”
The lawmakers, including appropriations committee chairman, Senator Teofisto Guingona III, went at length taking up the issue of the so-called ghost-teachers with one more addition from Hataman: “ghost evacuees,” which drew laughter from the audience and the quizzing senators.  

He said over P 30 million more has been saved from busting ghost teachers serving non-existing schools, and by implementing a moratorium on creation of community public schools, until all of the region’s schools have been accounted for.     
The governor said to further achieve reforms in the ARMM, the regional government has introduced and is implementing HELPS, which stands for Health; Education and Environment, Livelihood, Political Reforms and Synergy. HELPS binds related programs and projects carried by regional government agencies with those of local and international civil society organizations (CSOs).

Hataman has taken political grip off project funds to end an age-old tradition of political influence on utilization of public funds for community infrastructure programs in the region.
ARMM Public Works Secretary Emil Sadain said the new approach required a “crucial amendment” to the region’s Public Works Act, removing the powers of specific projects’ fund allocation from regional lawmakers and provincial governors, and even from Hataman’s office.
The region has proposed a total of P 15.588 billion budget for next year, but which the Department of Budget has reduced by P 1.589 billion to P 13.998 billion.

The budget approved at DBM level is up by 12.27 percent of the ARMM’s 2012 budget of P 12.468 billion.  NBM/BPI-ARMM

‘Ghost-busting’ Hataman pinapurian ng mga senador; hinamong na kumandidato

HINAMON ng mga Senador si ghost-busting Governor Mujiv Hataman ng Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), na tumakbo na lamang sa sususnod na halalan, upang patuloy nitong maitaguyod at maisulong ang adhikaing reproma sa naturang rehiyon.
Sa budget hearing na isinagawa sa Senado kahapon (Lunes), sinabi nina Senador Loren Legarda at Franklin Drilon na nais din nilang ganap ng ilipat sa pagpapasya ng autonomous region ang mga programang pangkaunlaran na saklaw pa rin ng Pambansang Pamahalaan.

Ayon kay Legarda maikli para sa repormang gustong ipatupad ng Hataman administration sa ARMM ang isang taon at walong buwang pananatili sa puwesto. “Napakaganda ng ginawa ni Governador Hataman sa ARMM at nais nating ito’y maituloy-tuloy na n’ya, at siya’y sasabak sa halalan sa 2013, bakit hindi” sabi pa ni Legarda.  

Sa naturang pagpupulong, sinabi ni Hataman sa mga mambabatas na isa sa matagumpay na natanggal ng kanyang administrasyon ang nakagawiang pagpopondo ng mga proyektong hiling ng mga pulitiko, at hindi hubog ng pagpapaysya ng higit na nakararaming residente ng komunidad.

Sinabi pa ni Hataman na nakalikom ang ARMM ng may P 59 million na savings sa pondo nito sa kasalukuyang taon. Ito aniya ay bunga na rin ng pagapapatupad ng mga bagong polisiya sa rehiyon.
Sinabi ni Drilon na hindi na magpapaligoy-ligoy pa ang Senado, at “hindi na namin uuyugin pa ang budget ng ARMM ngayong nasa pangagalaga ito ng isang credible na pamumuno.”

Bahagyang natigilan si Hataman at sa pagsabing maaaring lalabag sa batas ang naturang plano, sinagot agad s’ya ni Drilon na walang paglalabag sa batas na mangyayari kung sakali at magpapasya si Hataman na tumakbo na lamang sa halalan sa May 2013.

Pinapurian din ni Drilon ang Pangulong Noynoy Aquino sa pagkakatalaga nya kay Hataman bilang OIC Govrnor ng ARMM. “Ito ay palatandaan na hindi sa lahat ng panahon ay nahahalal tayo ng tamang leader at ganap na lingcod bayan,” wika pa ni Drilon.  
 
Matatandaang tinawag na “ghost-buster” ni Pangulong Noynoy Aquino si Hataman sa kanyang State of the Nation Address nitong nakaraang Hulyo, matapos ang matagumpay na pagpuksa ng huli sa a ng Pangulo ay mga “ghost teachers na nagtuturo ng ghost na mga estudyante na tumatahak ng ghost na kalsada, patungo sa ghost na eskwelahan.”   

Ayon pa kay Hataman, nakalikom din ang ARMM ng may P 30 million pa mula ng ipatigil at ganap ng tanggalin sa talaan ng rehiyon ang operasyon ng mga naturang “ghost” schools, at ipatigil pansamantala ang pag-gawa ng paaralan sa mga komunidad na halos ay magkadikit lamang...

At upang maisulong nang ganap ang reporma sa rehiyon, minarapat ni Hataman na bigyang daan ang programang ARMM HELPS, na tutugon sa health, education and environment, livelihood at political reforms sa ARMM. Ang programang ARMM-HELPS ay maguugnay sa pagtulungan ng pamahalaan at ng civil society organization, lokal man o banyaga.

Sinabi ni Hataman na napapanahon nang ilihis sa kamay at inpluyensiya ng mga politiko ang pagpapaysa kung papano, saan at kalian nararapat gamitin ang pondo mula sa kaban ng bayan.
Ayon kay ARMM Public Works Secretary Emil Sadain hindi naging maadali ang mga ganitong pagbabagong pinasimulan ni Hataman, lalo pa at kinailangan pang susugan o amiendahan ang ARMM Public Works Act, upang tanggalin ang naturang kapangyarihan sa mga mambabatas ng rehiyon, mga gubernador ng limang probinsyang nasasakupan nito, at maging sa tanggapan mismo ni Hataman.

Isinumite ng rehiyon ang binalangakas nitong budget na may kabuuang P 15.588 billion para sa susunod na taon, ngunit ito’y bahagyang pinababa ng Department of Budget sa halagang P 13.998 billion.

Inaprubahan ng DBM ang 12.27 percent na pag-angat sa budget ng ARMM sa naturang halaga, para sa susunod na taon, kumpara sa budget nitong P 12.468 billion sa kasalukuyang taon.  NBM/BPI-ARMM