GOVERNANCE/POLITICS

COTABATO CITY - The operation of schools in three areas in Lamitan City made dormant for decades by conflicts are again normal since 2018, restored through communal efforts by local sectors.

The now third-termer Lamitan City Mayor Rose Furigay said Saturday she mentioned of the feat in her state of the city address early this week.

The event, held at a public gymnasium in Lamitan City, was graced by traditional elders and elected leaders from the city’s 45 barangays, provincial dignitaries and representatives from the police and the military.

COTABATO CITY  – A member of parliament of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) has focused her eyes on the welfare of migrant workers, especially those coming from the Bangsamoro region.

Member of Parliament (MP) Bai Maleiha B. Candao of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) has filed a resolution asking the BARMM Ministry of Labor to establish a data banking system of all Bangsamoro migrant workers and adopt a well-organized repository of information.

ISABELA CITY --- Hundreds of reforming former drug dependents here underwent Friday another testing for use of methamphetamine hydrochloride as part of an intervention for them to fully bounce back from addiction.

The continuing program to usher them back into the mainstream communities is a joint initiative of the Isabela City police station, the office of Isabela City Mayor Sitti Djalia Turabin-Hataman, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and the city’s 45 barangay governments.

COTABATO CITY — In pursuit of quality public service in the Bangsamoro region, the Bangsamoro Government is eyeing for skilled and competent workers to join in the new bureaucracy.

Bangsamoro Spokesperson and Local Government Minister Atty. Naguib Sinarimbo said during the ‘Kapihan sa Bangsamoro’ session on Tuesday, January 14, 2020 in Cotabato City.

COTABATO CITY – Mayor Joseph Evangelista of Kidapawan City has warned tricycle drivers and operators not to rudely treat their passengers to improve the image of the city as it recovers from the natural calamities that took place late last year.

Lawyer Paolo Evangelista, acting city information chief, met with tricycle drivers and operators Monday and relayed to them reports that most of the passengers in the city have been complaining of tricycle drivers’ arrogance. Worse, he said some drivers allegedly extort passengers by asking high fares.

NORTH COTABATO – President Duterte on Friday said projects for farmers need periodic monitoring and follow-through interventions to surely improve the lives of beneficiaries.

Duterte, who was in North Cotabato’s Pigcawayan town Friday, told local officials and representatives from the provincial agriculture sector that corruption and poor government services condone the dire situation of farmers in far-flung areas.

COTABATO CITY --- The delegations from Basilan and its capital, Lamitan City, to the 2020 Bangsamoro regional athletic meet could be the most sufficiently funded entries to the event from among the region’s five provinces.

The upland municipality of Upi in Maguindanao will host the six-day Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Athletic Meet next week.

It is BARMM’s first since its creation in February 2019 that led to its assumption of the regional government of the then 29-year and now defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

COTABATO CITY --- Residents of Basilan will remember 2019 as the year the 11 towns and two cities in the island province together became the Bangsamoro region’s new investment frontier.

A transnational firm, the Davao-based Unifruitti Group, and its local partners agreed in 2019 to establish a 1,000-hectare Cavendish banana plantation in Lamitan City, capital of Basilan.

ISABELA CITY --- The local government unit in Isabela City in Basilan Province has new garbage collection trucks need to boost its daily cleanup routines.

Among the problems that confronted the newcomer mayor of Isabela City, Sitti Djalia Turabin-Hataman, is lack of equipment essential in maintaining cleanliness in barangays under her jurisdiction. She was elected to office only last May 13.

The provincial government of Basilan, under Gov. Jim Salliman, even had to lend its trucks to the office of the new Isabela City mayor for its cleanup effort to takeoff.

COTABATO CITY --- Vice President Leni Robredo and Mayor Rose Furigay led Wednesday the kickoff rite for the construction of the Angat Buhay Yakan Cloth Weaving Center in Barangay Buahan in Lamitan City.

Lamitan City is the capital of Basilan island province that also covers Isabela City and 11 towns.

The setting up of the weaving center, where skilled weavers are to produce the now globally marketed multi-colored Tenun Yakan fabric, is a joint initiative of the Office of the Vice President and the Lamitan local government unit.