COTABATO CITY— Ministry of Interior and Local Government (MILG) successfully launched Tuesday, January 18, the Livelihood Component of the Bangsamoro Integrated Rehabilitation and Development (BIRD) Program phase 1 in the 12-barangay Pigcawayan Cluster, Special Geographic Area (SGA) of the region.
Financed under the region’s Special Development Fund (SDF), BIRD Program aims to transform the 63 barangays in SGA into productive and peaceful communities.
The livelihood component included the upgrading of the Pigcawayan cluster’s electric supply – from its current single-phase to three phase, and the handing over of farm equipment, implements, motorized bancas, and fishing gear to the alliance of barangays which the MILG assisted in its formation.
“The alliance will cooperate, coordinate, and pool its resources to provide common services to the constituents of the 12 barangays,” said MILG Minister Atty. Naguib Sinarimbo who was present during Tuesday’s launching ceremony.
Also included in the component were MILG’s singing of a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the ministries of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Agrarian Reform (MAFAR) and Trade, Investments, and Tourism (MTIT), wherein the former will provide agricultural and fisheries inputs and technical assistance for the farmers and fisherfolks, while the latter will provide assistance in business registration, management, and marketing.
“The (BIRD) program intends to improve governance through the exercise of its corporate powers that will sustain economic and livelihood projects in the 63 barangays,” Minister Sinarimbo said.
MILG also distributed cash and relief assistance to some widows of martyrs of the Bangsamoro struggle. (BIO)
