Featured image above shows two Pangutaran residents enjoying a drink of water from the sea provided by MILG’s Desalination Machine Facilities.
BARMM News
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PANGUTARAN, Sulu — Desalination Machines that convert seawater to potable water have reached the island Municipality of Pangutaran, Sulu, Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
The BARMM has been providing desalination machine facilities to the island provinces of the Bangsamoro region through the Ministry of the Interior and Local Government (MILG) headed by Minister Naguib G. Sinarimbo. Some local government units (LGUs) on the island components of the region are already enjoying supply of potable water from the desalination facilities provided by the MILG.
Earlier, Sinarimbo noted that a number of LGUs in Sulu, Basilan, and Tawi-Tawi has no potable or drinking water for like since time immemorial.
Observers commented that it could be a form of “anomaly” that local executives have not done enough to address the pressing issue — water is life — and for the fact that the Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi are surrounded by water. Electricity is another perennial problem on the three island provinces, the observers said.
Potable water and electricity must be made available if tourism in the Bangsamoro region has to flourish. That’s not counting the vital need to ensure security for tourists and make them safe while on any of the islands. If and when they come to venture, with risks.
The Bangsamoro region established in 2018 by the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) to implement the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), is made up of the provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi, the cities of Cotabato, Lamitan, and Marawi, as well as the 63 SGA villages that voted “yes” in a plebiscite in January and February 2019 to be under the BARMM jurisdiction.
The BARMM population per the Philippine Atlas has 4,404,288 people. It has 116 municipalities: Basilan, 11 municipalities; Lanao del Sur, 39; Maguindanao, 36; Sulu, 19; and Tawi-Tawi, 11. Its component cities are Cotabato (the regional center and capital) in Maguindanao; Lamitan in Basilan; and Marawi in Lanao del Sur.
Since the establishment of the BARMM as a new political entity (NPE) in 2018 the Bangsamoro government has been providing many programs, projects and services to the communities. On the instance of BARMM Chief Minister Al-Hajj Murad Ebrahim, the MILG has been providing infrastructures such as buildings to the region’s LGUs, such as Municipal Halls, Public Terminals, Police Stations for the Philippine National Police (PNP), Tourism Hubs, Public Markets, Barangay Halls, Desalination Machine Facilities, and repair of water systems.
In relation with this undertakings in the shape of a “dividend of peace”, the MILG has installed another Desalination Machine Facilities in Pangutaran. “Our two Desalination Machines are now deployed and serving our constituents in the island municipality of Pangutaran, province of Sulu,” said Sinarimbo.