Marcos releases P3.4 billion for BARMM peace, humanitarian initiatives

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. turned over P3.4 billion worth of funds for peace, security, and humanitarian projects to Bangsamoro regional officials, local executives, and other stakeholders at the Army’s Camp Siongco in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte on Wednesday, July 22. Officials of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao told reporters that P2.9 billion from BARMM’s coffer was also allocated for various public service and community-empowerment initiatives of regional agencies during the event. Marcos, in a message, told BARMM officials, led by the region’s chief minister, Abdulraof Macacua and Regional Local Government Minister Jordan Bayam and members of the region’s 80-seat regional parliament, that his administration is focused on empowering the communities in the autonomous region as part of his administration’s Southern Mindanao peace process. Marcos was accompanied to Camp Siongco, where the headquarters of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division is located, by the Special Assistant to the President Antonio Lagdameo Jr. The funds from the Bangsamoro and the national governments that President Marcos released to regional agencies are for programs meant to address underdevelopment in isolated areas, boost the emergency response capability of the Ministry of the Interior and Local Government-BARMM and the five provincial governments under its jurisdiction and for the education of children who became orphans as a result of the Mindanao secessionist conflict. Macacua said he and his subordinates in the Office of the Chief Minister-BARMM and the heads of ministries and agencies under him are thankful to the President for personally leading the symbolic turnover of funds allocated for various joint public service programs of the Bangsamoro and national governments. "We are very grateful to President Marcos for supporting extensively our peace and development efforts in the Bangsamoro region," Macacua said. Fractions of the public service funds from the Bangsamoro government that the president released to regional officials are earmarked for special projects of the Ministry of Labor and Employment-BARMM, including interventions for overseas Bangsamoro workers beset with employment issues. The MoLE-BARMM, whose minister, Muslimin Sema, is chairman of the Moro National Liberation Front, is also focused on the reintegration into mainstream society, with livelihood-generation support, of former overseas workers who have returned to the country after a long stay abroad. The fund intended for special projects of the Ministry of Health-BARMM was personally handed over by the President and Mr. Macacua to the region’s health minister, the physician-ophthalmologist Kadil Sinolinding Jr. The provincial governments of Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur, Lanao del Sur, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi and the office of Mayor Bruce Matabalao of Cotabato City, the regional capital of BARMM, also received grants then for local peace and development activities. The governors of the five BARMM provinces, Tucao Mastura of Maguindanao del Norte, Ali Midtimbang of Maguindanao del Sur, Mamintal Adiong Jr. of Lanao del Sur, Mujiv Hataman of Basilan and Ysmael Sali of Tawi-Tawi each got P20 million for special projects of their provincial governments from Macacua, Bayam and President Marcos during the activity at Camp Siongco that culminated before noon Wednesday.