Photo by Comenei Ali/BIO
SPECIAL GEOGRAPHIC AREA—Residents of Barangay Matilac in Pigcawayan cluster in Special Geographic Area (SGA) gathered in front of their newly constructed barangay hall on Monday to witness its inauguration.
Village chief Esmael Talusan was quite emotional as he officially assumed the Php3.5 million two-storey facility funded by the Bangsamoro Government.
“Maraming salamat po sa BARMM Government dahil sa wakas, meron na po kaming magandang baranggay hall,” Talusan said in Maguindanaon vernacular—a dominant local in their village.
Gracing the event, Interior and Local Government Minister Atty. Naguib Sinarimbo said the construction of barangay halls across different parts of the region is a strategy of the Government of the Day to enhance local-level governance.
“Ang barangay ang pinakamaliit na yunit ng gobyerno na madali niyong malapitan kaya mahalaga na meron kayo nito,” Sinarimbo said.
Sinarimbo, who grew up in the adjacent barangay, reckoned and shared before the crowd the unwanted fate of the area during the war.
“Alam natin na noong panahon ng gyera, halos nasira lahat ng infrastructures dito kasama na ang mga kabahayan, kaya ngayon may pagkakataon na tayo, aayusin natin ito,” he said.
SGA is composed of 63 former areas or barangays carved out of Cotabato Province and became the official territory of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) after a successful plebiscite on February 6, 2019. In Pigcawayan cluster, there are twelve barangays that voted inclusion in the BARMM.
Out of this figure, 62 villages received the same barangay hall from the Bangsamoro Government. Despite the regional government’s plan to build 63 facilities, one village within Pikit cluster was unable to proceed with the implementation due to a lack of available land.
On the same day, Sinarimbo also led the inauguration of another village hall in Barangay Datu Mantil.
“The BARMM Government only hopes that these facilities would help in improving governance at local level,” Sinarimbo stressed, citing the visionary leadership of Chief Minister Ahod Ebrahim for a better Bangsamoro. (Abdullah Matucan/BIO)
