63 North Cotabato barangays get infra support
NORTH COTABATO --- Local officials assured Wednesday to help oversee the concreting by the Bangsamoro government of farm-to-market roads in 63 barangays in this province.
Officials of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and counterparts in North Cotabato province, among them Gov. Nancy Catamco, launched Monday the initial one-kilometer road project each in the 63 barangays.
The 63 barangays are in towns originally under Catamco’s jurisdiction but became part of BARMM when residents voted for the inclusion of their villages into the Bangsamoro geopolitical area during a plebiscite in January 2019.
BARMM Local Government Minister Naguib Sinarimbo said Wednesday the road projects are essential to the socio-economic empowerment of residents in the 63 barangays, relying mainly on agriculture and fishing in the nearby Liguasan Delta as sources of income.
Besides the road project, the BARMM government shall also construct barangays halls for residents of Lower Pangangakalan, Lower Baguer and Datu Binasing, all in Pigcawayan.
The symbolic launching of the infrastructure packages for the 63 barangays was held in Barangay Datu Binasing in Pigcawayan town in the first district of North Cotabato.
The event was led by Sinarimbo, BARMM Public Works Minister Eduard Uy Guerra, the now second-termer Catamco and her constituent-municipal officials in the towns where the 63 barangays are located.
“We in the province, the provincial and municipal governments, will fully support the implementation of these infrastructure projects. We are thankful to the local government and public works ministries of BARMM for these initial infrastructure interventions,” Catamco said Wednesday.
North Cotabato, covering 17 towns and Kidapawan City, its capital, is under Administrative Region 12.
"Peace and sustainable development in these 63 barangays can be achieved easier if there is convergence on the humanitarian, infrastructure, health and education thrusts of the Bangsamoro government and my administration," Catamco said.
Sinarimbo, regional spokesperson, said BARMM’s chief minister, Hadji Ahod Ebrahim, is grateful to Catamco for supporting the regional government’s peace and development initiatives in the now Bangsamoro barangays in towns that are under her jurisdiction.