The Ministry of the Interior and Local Government successfully turned-over on Nov. 29 the newly completed two-storey Batulawan Barangay Hall in Pikit Cluster of the BARMM’s Special Geographic Area. (Hamdan Badrudin/BIO)
SPECIAL GEOGRAPHIC AREA — Two new village halls in the Special Geographic Area (SGA) were officially turned over by the Ministry of the Interior and Local Government (MILG) to barangays Batulawan and Buliok in Pikit Cluster on Nov. 29.
Valued at P3.5-million each, the infrastructures add to the more than 10 already completed barangay halls in the area.
During the inauguration at Brgy. Bataluwan, MILG Minister Atty. Naguib Sinarimbo stressed the importance of such projects for the SGA communities. He emphasized that many barangays in SGA are situated in the periphery of the old Cotabato province, far from the center of development.
“Ito rin yung mga barangays na tinamaan ng matinding giyera kase nasa boundary sila. Pagkatapos, dahil hindi sila naging parte ng ARMM when it was created in 1998, hindi sila napasok, napabayaan din sila,” said Sinarimbo.
[These are also the barangays that were extremely affected by wars due to their proximity to the boundaries. Also, when the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao was created in 1998, they were not included so they were essentially left behind.]
Sinarimbo also added that when the SGA was formed, its 63 barangays were separated from their mother municipality and province. For all these reasons and given their socio-economic condition, “we need a massive programming for their development,” he said.
On behalf the BARMM Government, Minister Sinarimbo hopes that the massive investments of MILG, such as infrastructures, technical capacity, and policy evolution in the region, can further enhance and sustain the performance of the local government units. He said that the ultimate goal of the BARMM is to have an “irreversible course of development” for its communities.
Aside from the mainland provinces of the region, the MILG will also conduct several turnover and groundbreaking ceremonies in the provinces of Tawi-Tawi, Sulu, and Basilan for different projects including public markets, municipal halls, and provincial offices.
The inauguration of the new barangay hall in Batulawan saw the attendance of Member of the Parliament (MP) Akmad Abas, SGA Development Authority Administrator Butch Malang, and representatives of Regional Mobile Force Battalion 14 and Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region. (Norjana Malawi/BIO)
