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COTABATO CITY (SDN) — The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) continues its programs on infrastructures for the region’s various local government units (LGUs).
Through the Ministry of the Interior and Local Government (MILG), the BARMM has been constructing Municipal Halls, Philippine National Police (PNP) Stations, Public Markets, Tourism Centers, Public Terminals, Water Desalination Facilities & Water Systems (at least repairing old ones), and others.
Many of the building projects have already been completed and turned over respective LGUs, many are in the process of construction, while still others are in the planning stage.
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.
Lawyer Naguib G. Sinarimbo, head of the Ministry of the Interior and Local Government (MILG), has announced the near completion of another Bangsamoro Public Market in the SGA’s Pigkawayan Cluster in North Cotabato.
He cited the importance of the Public Market to the SGA’s commerce and business.
“The market will provide stalls and spaces for entrepreneurs from the 12 barangays constituting the Pigkawayan Cluster. This we hope will provide business opportunities to many of our constituents while at the same time allowing constituents and other neighboring barangays to have easy access to goods and services. Farmers and fisherfolks will be able to market their goods easily,” the BARMM interior minister said.
“Padian” in the Maguindanaon dialect, or market in English, Sinarimbo pointed out, has been the engine of growth in our localities. It has also been a venue for people to converge and converse and thus, build social cohesion.
“Padian days have always been a part of our lives. In my younger days, we always look forward to the market days in Pigkawayan where we will have opportunity to eat ‘grilled pastil’ and the all-time favorite halo-halo during summer,” he added.
“Pastil” is a Moro (perhaps originated by the Maguindanaon ethnic group) food consisting of “hinimay na manok” (in a sense, chicken flakes) fried with coconut oil with shredded onion, ginger, and garlic, and rice wrapped in banana leaf.
Wherever you go in a Moro community, especially among Maguindanaon and Maranao (where it’s called pater) areas, one will find restaurants, eateries serving the pastil. It costs from Php10 to Php25. — EKU (✓)