COTABATO CITY – The Ministry of Public Works’ (MPW) Maguindanao First District Engineering Office and the BARMM-KAPYANAN (Kapayapaan sa Pamayanan) Program officially turned over 185 housing units at Maputi, Brgy. G.T. Biruar, Parang, Maguindanao on Tuesday, March 15.
With a total worth of P74.7-million, the housing project was funded under the CY 2019 BARMM’s Bangsamoro Regional Inclusive Development for Growth and Empowerment (BRIDGE) program. It aimed to provide shelter for families who were either displaced due to conflict, among the poorest of the poor, or former combatants in the area.
BARMM Assistant Senior Minister Abdullah Cusain, who is also the program manager of KAPYANAN, recognized the interventions of the former ARMM government on the improvement of the people’s welfare.
“For us in the BARMM, we acknowledge the previous ARMM officials in their great efforts to start this kind of decent project which could promote betterment for our constituents,” Cusain said.
To recall, the budget of the housing project was requested by the ARMM government in 2017 to the national government. The construction was temporarily discontinued due to the transition of the ARMM to BARMM.
“If I’m not mistaken, before the year 2021, we agreed to have the MPW construct at least 3,600 housing units across the Bangsamoro region because we consider that homelessness still remain a major problem all over BARMM territories, and we need to address that through KAPYANAN program,” Cusain added.
KAPYANAN is one of the special programs of the Office of the Chief Minister (OCM) that is committed to provide basic needs including core shelter with light, water and sanitation, and sustainable livelihood for the poorest of the poor in the region.
“We are very thankful to the leadership of Chief Minister Ahod Balawag Ebrahim and the entire BARMM officials in providing us this housing unit. We are happy because we really feel now that there is a government that promotes our well-being,” a former combatant and one of the beneficiaries, Sabila Asi, said in a local language.
Another beneficiary, Hadji Ahmad Abpet, expressed his appreciation to the regional government saying: “I am grateful that I have reached this point in my life where I get to see the fruit of our decade-long struggle, the Moral Governance through the BARMM leadership.”
Abpet is a 78 year old veteran fighter whose families were displaced from Lutayan, Maguindanao since the martial law in 1972.
Meanwhile, MPW Planning Chief Engr. Salonga Sumampao mentioned that aside from the provision of housing units, roads construction is also being widely implemented in the area to ensure easy access to remote communities.
“Our road construction and concreting here in Parang Municipality alone could reach to more or less than P100-million per year,” Engr. Sumampao said. (Kasan M. Usop, Jr/BIO)
