DENR-ARMM spearheads Basuranihan program in Maguindanao

DATU SAUDI, Maguindanao - Environmentalists on Wednesday launched the Basuranihan” movement in Maguindanao. The program is a cross-section effort meant to intensify the waste management consciousness of the Muslim, Christian and lumad groups in the province. Kahal Kedtag, regional secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (DENR-ARMM), led the simultaneous launching of the program in Barangays Elian, Kitango and Dapiawan in Datu Saudi, Maguindanao. Kedtag said the term Basuranihan implies basura and bayanihan.” This program is aimed at promoting community cooperation in addressing environmental issues besetting Maguindanao’s Moro, lumad and Christian communities,” Kedtag said. He said ARMM’s chief executive, Gov. Mujiv Hataman, supports the Basuranihan movement. Aside from campaigning for efficient waste management by Maguindanao folks, the movement also aims to help local peasant communities reforest denuded lands in their surroundings. Local officials in Datu Saudi town, located in the second district of Maguindanao, and barangay officials attended the launching of the program.