BANGSAMORO NEWS UPDATES

COTABATO CITY --- Five now peaceful Basilan towns the Abu Sayyaf pestered for decades until four years ago have passed the national government’s 2019 Good Financial Housekeeping test.

The Basilan provincial government also passed last year’s GFH evaluation by the central office of the Department of the Interior and Local Government, according to a matrix obtained Wednesday from the office of DILG Secretary Eduardo Año.

COTABATO CITY - Chief of Mission of the Embassy of Japan Yamamoto Yasushi has pledged to continue their full support for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) through projects that will “bring greater stability and prosperity in the region.”
 
Yasushi said this Tuesday, February 18, during the ‘Bangsamoro Friends Forum’ hosted by Embassy of Japan and United Nations Philippines.
 
The forum was also supported by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
 

COTABATO CITY - The Bangsamoro Government conducted its first Noble Qur’an Reading Competition on Saturday, February 15, at the Bangsamoro Government Center, in Cotabato City.

The competition was participated in by 22 delegates from the BARMM's different provinces and cities, such as Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basian, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, North Cotabato, Cotabato City, Lamitan City and Marawi City.

COTABATO CITY --- Personnel of the Basilan provincial government will soon transfer to a new capitol where there is a venue for cross-section dialogues needed to sustain the peace now in the province.

The new two-storey provincial government center is on a wide patch of land along a stretch of the Isabela-Lamitan Highway in Barangay Santa Clara, Lamitan City.

Gov. Jim Salliman led Thursday the inspection of the surroundings of the provincial capitol and the building where they are to hold office.

COTABATO CITY - Abdullah Cusain, Bangsamoro Government assistant executive secretary, announced on Tuesday, February 11, that the 2nd batch of the phased-out employees of the defunct ARMM shall receive their separation incentives this month.

Among those employees, according to Cusain, are from the ARMM’s Office of the Regional Governor (ORG), Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

He said the fund was downloaded by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) on the first week of February.

MAGUINDANAO - A seaside town without an Internal Revenue Allotment since its creation 11 years ago will now have a monthly IRA from the national coffer, courtesy of the Mindanao peace process.

Muslim and Christian residents of Datu Blah Sinsuat town held a traditional kanduli, or thanksgiving rite, last weekend after learning the week before that their local government unit will start receiving IRA this year, possibly starting first quarter of 2020, from the Department of Budget and Management.

COTABATO CITY - To elevate the quality of the educational system in the Bangsamoro region, the Ministry of Basic, Higher, and Technical Education (MBHTE-BARMM) hired a total of 1, 153 licensed teachers for the two districts of Maguindanao province. 
 
569 newly-hired elementary and secondary teachers for Maguindanao I signed their appointment and deployment orders during the BARMM's first mass signing and oath-taking ceremony on Thursday, February 6, held at the Shariff Kabunsuan Cultural Complex, Bangsamoro Government Center, in Cotabato City. 
 

COTABATO CITY --- The Public works department and the provincial government of Basilan forged Wednesday a P70 million school building construction program for the island province.

The agreement was signed by Cayamombao Dia, director for Region 9 of the Department of Public Works and Highways, and Basilan Gov. Jim Salliman.

The program is meant to complement the domestic literacy efforts of the Basilan provincial government, meant to hasten  the restoration of normalcy in the island province, now bouncing back from armed conflicts.

JOLO, Sulu -- The regional goverment of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), through Atty. Naguib Sinarimbo, interior and local govenrment's minister, have extended emergency relief assistance to families affected by Tuesday's fire in Jolo's three adjoining villages.

At 10 a.m. today, Sinarimbo and relief workers from Rapid Emergency and Disaster Response (READi) have distributed food packs to some 1,500 families rendered homeless by a fire of still unknown origin.

COTABATO CITY --- Officials are scrambling to extend relief services to no fewer than 2,000 families dislocated by a big fire that hit seaside dwelling enclaves in Jolo, Sulu on Monday.

The Bureau of Fire Protection-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in still investigating on what had triggered the fire that razed thousands of small houses, mostly on beaches, in Jolo’s adjoining Barangay Tulay, Chinese pier and Takut-Takut areas.