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COTABATO CITY — The Bangsamoro government continued delivering the “fruits” of peace to the local government units of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
This time the fruits of peace come in the form of new Barangay Hall buildings, 10 of them for the barangays or villages of the municipality of Patikul on the island province of Sulu.
Established in 2018 by the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) to implement the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) 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.
Many of the infrastructure projects are being implemented by the Ministry of the Interior and Local Government (MILG) headed by Interior Minister Naguib G. Sinarimbo.
He said the MILG signed recently a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) as well as broke ground for the construction 10 buildings of Barangay Halls for Patikul with Mayor Cabir E. Hayudini and Maj. Gen. Ignatius Patrimonio of the Philippine Army’s (PA) 11th Division.
“This is in support of the Balik Barangay Program BBP) aimed at returning all IDPs (internally displaced persons) in their villages in Patikul after their long displacement because of the fight against the Abu Sayaf Group,” said Sinarimbo, spokesperson of BARMM.
He said he visited barangays in the municipality in 2019 to distribute relief assistance.
“I am happy to return and provide thru the Bangsamoro Government new government centers to the barangays whose constituents are now returning. These Barangay Halls will be at the forefront of providing services to our people,” the MILG head said.
In relation with this, Sinarimbo expressed thanks to Col. Taharuddin Ampatuan of the PA for “introducing as to the Balik Barangay Program.” — EKU (✓)