GOVERNANCE/POLITICS

NORTH COTABATO – President Duterte on Friday said projects for farmers need periodic monitoring and follow-through interventions to surely improve the lives of beneficiaries.

Duterte, who was in North Cotabato’s Pigcawayan town Friday, told local officials and representatives from the provincial agriculture sector that corruption and poor government services condone the dire situation of farmers in far-flung areas.

COTABATO CITY --- The delegations from Basilan and its capital, Lamitan City, to the 2020 Bangsamoro regional athletic meet could be the most sufficiently funded entries to the event from among the region’s five provinces.

The upland municipality of Upi in Maguindanao will host the six-day Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Athletic Meet next week.

It is BARMM’s first since its creation in February 2019 that led to its assumption of the regional government of the then 29-year and now defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

COTABATO CITY --- Residents of Basilan will remember 2019 as the year the 11 towns and two cities in the island province together became the Bangsamoro region’s new investment frontier.

A transnational firm, the Davao-based Unifruitti Group, and its local partners agreed in 2019 to establish a 1,000-hectare Cavendish banana plantation in Lamitan City, capital of Basilan.

ISABELA CITY --- The local government unit in Isabela City in Basilan Province has new garbage collection trucks need to boost its daily cleanup routines.

Among the problems that confronted the newcomer mayor of Isabela City, Sitti Djalia Turabin-Hataman, is lack of equipment essential in maintaining cleanliness in barangays under her jurisdiction. She was elected to office only last May 13.

The provincial government of Basilan, under Gov. Jim Salliman, even had to lend its trucks to the office of the new Isabela City mayor for its cleanup effort to takeoff.

COTABATO CITY --- Vice President Leni Robredo and Mayor Rose Furigay led Wednesday the kickoff rite for the construction of the Angat Buhay Yakan Cloth Weaving Center in Barangay Buahan in Lamitan City.

Lamitan City is the capital of Basilan island province that also covers Isabela City and 11 towns.

The setting up of the weaving center, where skilled weavers are to produce the now globally marketed multi-colored Tenun Yakan fabric, is a joint initiative of the Office of the Vice President and the Lamitan local government unit. 

COTABATO CITY --- The 44^th founding anniversary celebration of the now peaceful Maluso town in Basilan this week brought together key leaders in the island province.

Among the many officials who graced the event were Gov. Jim Salliman, Deputy Speaker Mujiv Hataman, who is lone congressional representative of the island province, and local officials led by Mayor Hanie Bud.

COTABATO CITY  --- One of this year’s recipients of the Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) awards is a Maranao who is a member of the Bangsamoro parliament.

Ziaur-Rahman Alonto Adiong shall receive the TOYM 2019 award on December 13 during a special ceremony at the Manila Hotel.

The grant of TOYM citations is an annual activity of the Philippine Jaycees Incorporated, meant to honor Filipinos with remarkable community service feats.

Adiong, more known as “Zia,” is younger brother of Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal Adiong, Jr.

COTABATO CITY  – The Maguindanao Electric Cooperative (Magelco) will resort to drastic move in a bid to let its member-consumers into paying monthly electric bills for the cooperative to free from the bondage of debt.

Magelco General Manager Ashary P. Maongco said the cooperative have no other recourse but to implement a power shut down unless member consumers settle its obligation with the power distributor.

COTABATO CITY --- The local government unit of Isabela City received P5 million from the Dangerous Drugs Board for a rehabilitation facility for abusers to hasten the resolution of domestic narcotics issues.

Isabela City is one of two cities in the now markedly peaceful island province of Basilan in the Bangsamoro region. The province also covers Lamitan City, the provincial capital, and 11 neighboring towns.

MANILA - The Commission on Population and Development (POPCOM) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) signed on Wednesday a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for a multiyear partnership to strengthen the government’s efforts for the Philippines to reap the benefits of demographic dividend and for other initiatives to integrate population dynamics as well as reproductive health issues with sustainable development planning and programming.