GOVERNANCE/POLITICS

COTABATO CITY — The Department of the Interior and Local Government will work on smooth transfer of supervision of its local offices in the newly created Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).  

Minister Naguib Sinarimbo of the BARMM’s Ministry of the Interior and Local Government (MILG) said this has developed following a meeting which DILG Secretary Eduardo Año had hosted Tuesday for Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) Chief Minister Hadji Murad Ebrahim and his BARMM team.

COTABATO CITY – Pursuant to the RA 11054 popularly known as Bangsamoro Organic Law, Secretary Eduardo Año of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) ordered to prepare the necessities on the turn-over of Cotabato City and the 63 Barangays of North Cotabato to the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) as well as the institutional arrangement for national DILG programs being implemented in the Region 9, 10, and 12.

BASILAN --- The provincial government wants all rank-and-file employees honed in use of computers to maximize public service efficiency using cyber technology.

Basilan Gov. Jim Salliman said Friday he wants all of his subordinates, particularly those involved in technical fieldworks, to keep upgrading their computer literacy skills as part of his continuing modernization of the provincial government’s operation.

Salliman first got to the helm of the Basilan PG as governor in 2013 and was, subsequently, reelected to a second term last May 13.

KIDAPAWAN CITY  - Listening is a leadership quality that does not appear in the job description.

But when Gov. Nancy A. Catamcao took oath as the 25^th North Cotabato Governor, the new chief executive promised that her administration will be unifying instead of dividing.

Speaking before hundreds of national government agency representatives, provincial officials and employees, Catamco urged everyone to not fear the new leadership in the province, saying she understands the apprehension and doubts of some every time a new leader takes over the reins of governance.

SHARIFF AGUAK, Maguindanao  – It’s final.  This town will once again become the seat of Maguindanao provincial government as announced by Gov. Bai Meriam Sangki-Mangudadatu.

In her inaugural speech and State of the Province Address Wednesday, Gov. Mangudadatu stressed that Shariff Aguak is the legitimate provincial capital of Maguindanao based on Presidential Decree 341 signed by then President Ferdinand Marcos.

“That presidential decree remained in effect to date,” the lady governor said in the vernacular.

BULUAN, Maguindanao  – Outgoing Maguindanao Gov. Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu on Sunday officially relinquished his post to the newly elected provincial governor during simple and emotional turnover ceremonies here.

Mangudadatu, elected governor of Maguindanao in 2010 following the bloodiest single election related incident in the country’s electoral history – the 2009 Maguindanao massacre – will commence as the new representative of Maguindanao representing the second district to the House of Representatives.

COTABATO CITY - Schools and local government units of 1,000 barangays in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) will initially benefit from the government’s Tech-for-Aid Centers program.

The BARMM’s Ministry of the Interior and Local Government (MILG) has entered into a working memorandum of agreement (MOA) on Wednesday with the Department of Information, Communication and Technology (DICT) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for the establishment of Tech-for-Aid Centers for BARMM local government units (LGUs)  and school sites.

KORONADAL CITY  -- “If it is meant to be, it will be. I believed this lot is meant for PhilHealth.”

With these words Koronadal City Mayor Peter B. Miguel led the ground breaking ceremonies for the new building of Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) in the Soccsksargen region at the regional center here last week.

Miguel said the slot where the new PhilHealth edifice will rise was originally donated to Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) but was aborted.

MAGUINDANAO --- The most senior from among Maguindanao’s eight elected board members was sworn to office Wednesday by a barangay chairman in Datu Odin Sinsuat town.

The reelected Datu Bimbo Sinsuat from the first district of the province took his oath before Datu Abdulhakeem Sinsuat, chairman of Barangay Poblacion in Datu Odin Sinsuat.

Relatives said Thursday Sinsuat had long wanted his inaugural oath taking done simply, to be administered by a barangay official.

He is now in his second term as provincial board member.

BASILAN --- Ninety eight indigent couples participated in a mass wedding rite facilitated Monday by the local government unit of Lamitan City in this island province. 

The event was supported by local officials and barangay leaders from the more than 40 barangays in Lamitan City.

Lamitan City Mayor Rose Furigay said Tuesday the marriage licenses of the couples are free as “gift” from the local government unit.

Furigay’s office also provided cash gifts and wedding reception rites for her newly-wed constituents.