“What we are enjoying today is the fruit of the struggle, sweat, blood and tears of our elders. We must treasure it.”
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COTABATO CITY (SDN) — The Bangsamoro government through its Ministry of the Interior and Local Government (MILG) headed by Minister Naguib S. Sinarimbo continued its construction projects in its various local government units (LGUs).
Over this month February, Sinarimbo, spokesperson of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), said the MILG completed a Community Activity Center in Barangay Lower Baguer in the Pigkawayan Cluster of the Special Geographic Area (SGA) in North Cotabato. A total of 63 barangays (villages) comprising the SGA are under the BARMM government jurisdiction by virtue of a plebiscite in February 2019.
He said thhe activity center is one of the many construction projects being implemented by MILG under its Special Development Fund (SDF).
“The project intends to create a space for the community to hold their events such as festivities, sports competition, social gatherings, community assemblies, and other events geared towards creating a stronger social bond among the members of the communities,” Sinarimbo pointed out.
“In war-torn areas, such as this village, it is important to create spaces for rebuilding the bond and relationships of the members of the community so that together they can find solutions and co-create a future that they can all share. Our Ministry is here to provide the enabling environment for that.”
In a related development, the MILG has another Barangay Hall that was already completed which the ministry inaugurated on February 12, 2023.
Fruits of Bangsamoro struggle growing in BARMM communities
The new Barangay Hall is also in the SGA, this time in Barangay Kadingilan, also of Pigkawayan Cluster of the Bangsamoro region.
“This (Banangay Hall Building) sits on a historic hill where very intense continuous fighting occurred in the 1970s between state forces and the Bangsamoro resistance fighters led by then ‘Kagui Murad’, now Chief Minister of the BARMM.
Meanwhile, there a number of MILG construction projects in other parts of the region, either still under construction, in the pipeline, or planning stage.
At least one construction project is ongoing, a Public Market Building, in municipality of Pagalungan, Maguindanao del Sur. “If you are traversing the Cotabato-Davao Road, it is located on the right side of that highway on your way to Davao,” said Sinarimbo.
“What we are enjoying today is the fruit of the struggle, sweat, blood and tears of our elders. We must treasure it,” the MILG chief emphasized.
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 del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi, the cities of Cotabato, Lamitan, and Marawi, as well as the 63 barangays or villages dubbed Special Geographic Area (SGA) that voted “yes” in a plebiscite in February 2019 to be under the BARMM jurisdiction.
According to 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. — EDD K. USMAN/SDN (✓)