Maguindanao peasants benefit from ARMM's agri supply, equipment packages

BULUAN, Maguindanao --
Hundreds of marginalized peasants received on Tuesday rice and corn seeds and
fertilizers under a joint program of Malacañang, the Autonomous
Region in Muslim Mindanao and the Anak Mindanao (Amin) Partylist.

The initial P10.1 million
worth assistance package includes a mechanized combine rice harvester, knapsack
sprayers, and fertilizers.Makmod Mending, Jr., ARMM agriculture and fishery regional secretary, turned over the agricultural supplies and
machinery to Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu during a simple program at a public
gymnasium in Buluan town.

The package
was procured with an initial tranche from the P51.7 million Agri-Pinoy Fund”
of the Department of Agriculture for 2013 for Maguindanao, channeled through the executive
department of ARMM.

More agricultural packages
will be handed out by us to farmers in Maguindanao through the office of Gov. Mangudadatu
in the coming months,” Mending said.

Mending said the national government allocated P300 million for agricultural support to Maguindanao’s Moro,
Christian and Lumad farmers.

We ought to thank the
central office of DA and Malacañang for these programs,” Mending said.

He
said the Amin Partylist has been
helping bankroll the ARMM government’s supply and equipment grants for
peasants
in the region’s five provinces, Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, which are
both in mainland Mindanao, and the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu
and Tawi-Tawi.

Amin is a staunch benefactor of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries in the autonomous
region,” Mending said.

Mangudadatu received the
agricultural supplies and machinery in the presence of hundreds of
representatives from different Moro, Christian and lumad peasant groups in the first and second districts
of Maguindanao.

We are thankful to the
national government and to the ARMM’s present administration for this program,” Mangudadatu told
reporters.

He said the continuing
socio-economic interventions for the local communities of ARMM Gov. Mujiv
Hataman complements the provincial government’s normalization efforts for Maguindanao
towns now gradually rising from devastation wrought by armed conflicts in 2000
until 2008.

We in Maguindanao also want to thank Malacañang for its never ending support to the effort of my office
to restore normalcy and foster sustainable development in the province,”
Mangudadatu said. Maguindanao is host to more than 50 enclaves of the Moro
Islamic Liberation Front, whose members are also beneficiaries of
socio-economic projects of the provincial government and Hataman's
office.