Short link: https://wp.me/paaccn-yUh
COTABATO CITY — The government of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) continued responding to the needs of its constituents, this time in its Special Geographic Area (SGA).
Ministry of the Interior and Local Government (MILG) Minister Atty. Naguib Sinarimbo assured residents of SGA’s Barangay Batulawan, in the Pikit Cluster of the SGA.
“We need massive programs for the growth of the 63 barangays of BARMM’s Special Geographic Area so that they can catch up to the development responses given to the region during the ARMM era,” he said, referring to the Bangsamoro Government’s significant assistance to the area, during the turnover of Barangay Hall Building for Batulawan village on November 29, 2023.
Through the Bangsamoro Integrated Rehabilitation and Development (BIRD) Program, the Bangsamoro Government also provided cash support to 350 Pikit widows of war of the village, each receiving โฑ50,000. MILG is implementing the BIRD Program under the BARMM’s Special Development Fund (SDF), with the goal of improving the lives of war widows and accelerating development in the 63 barangays covered by the BARMM-SGA.
“If you look at the geographical position of the BARMM SGA,” he pointed out, “most barangays are in the peripheral of the past wars which substantially hindered development efforts at that time. The barangays at the borders of Maguindanao and North Cotabato are witnesses to this.”
Earlier this month, 200 widows from BARMM-SGA’s Midsayap Clusters received cash assistance from the BIRD Program. The initiative involves a long-term goal to organize widows into associations that will identify and improve their ability to sustainably earn a living.
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 โYesโ 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. (โ)