𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐨 𝐆𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐃 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦 𝐒𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐑𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐮𝐣𝐚𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐖𝐢𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐬

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COTABATO CITY — “The Bangsamoro Government cannot replace the lives of our former comrades in the Bangsamoro struggle,” Interior and Local Government Minister Atty. Naguib G. Sinarimbo said on 14the of September.

He was speaking during the convergence and distribution of financial and livelihood assistance to widows of war in the Midsayap and Carmen Clusters of the Special Geographic Area (SGA).

The SGA is comprised of 63 barangays or villages in North Cotabato province but opted to be under the governance jurisdiction of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), voting “Yes” in the plebiscite on February 19.

“However,” he added, “this assistance from the Government of BARMM with the help of the BIRD [Bangsamoro Integrated Rehabilitation and Development] Program is expected to help the livelihood of the mujahideen widows.”

Sinarimbo emphasized the importance of meeting the immediate needs of these war widows while also providing long-term sustainable development programs. The goal is to transform them through capacity building, rural infrastructure development, and livelihood opportunities.

There are plans to organize them as a cooperative to help their livelihoods even further, and the ongoing construction of a public market will also allow them to establish sustainable livelihoods to support their families, paving the way for them and their communities to have a brighter and more stable future.

Zokria Abas, a resident of the SGA-Carmen Cluster and one of the beneficiaries, expressed her gratitude as a recipient of the assistance. “The Bangsamoro Government is aware of our struggles. This is only the beginning of the many more help we were promised.”

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 Special Geographic Area’s (SGA) 63 barangays or villages that voted “Yes” in a plebiscite in February 2019 to be under the BARMM jurisdiction.

According to the Philippine Atlas BARMM has 4,404,288 people. It has 116 municipalities: Basilan, 11 municipalities; Lanao del Sur, 39; undivided 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. (✓)