US$11.2m for model Bangsamoro villages

DAVAO CITY, MINDANAO

THE Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) has allotted P500 million (US$11.2 million) for 50 villages that will be showcased as model communities for the Bangsamoro.

This new entity will replace the ARMM if a final peace agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is signed and a law creating the Bangsamoro is passed by Congress and approved by voters of the proposed Bangsamoro area in a plebiscite.

ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman said recently the region had identified 10 villages in each province in the ARMM, or one village in each town, to be used as a showcase of Moro self-rule. The government will pour funds into these villages to build infrastructure and ensure the delivery of social services.

“We will make these barangays model communities,” he said. The ARMM has 2,400 villages.

Lawyer Laisa Alamea, ARMM executive secretary, said the program was part of the region’s preparations for the transition to the Bangsamoro, a new political entity pro-vided in the draft framework agreement between the government and the MILF.

“The ARMM will infuse funding into the barangay. If there’s no barangay hall, no market, no shel-ter programme, no covered court, we’re going to build them,” Ala-mea said. “We are going to showcase all of these infrastructure.”

Part of the program is the Health, Education, Livelihood, Peace and Security, and Synergy in the ARMM, which will make available basic and social services to the pilot communities.

Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN