Another Basilan irrigation facility rising
BANGSAMORO NEWS UPDATES • 10:00 AM Wed Apr 15, 2020
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By:
John M. Unson
The new irrigation project costs P35 million. (Contributed photo)
COTABATO CITY --- Thousands in Basilan stand to benefit from a P35 million worth irrigation project to connect a river straddling through former lairs of the Abu Sayyaf and large agricultural enclaves downstream.
The on-going construction of the P35 million worth irrigation facility, to tap water from a river near Mahatallang area in Barangay Tumahubong in Sumisip town, is a joint project of the National Irrigation Administration and the office of Basilan Gov. Jim Salliman.
In a statement Wednesday, the Basilan provincial government said the project shall supply water to vast swaths of farmlands in the surroundings of Barangay Tumahubong in Sumisip, the largest town in the island province.
Many of the more than 200 Abu Sayyaf bandits in Basilan who surrendered in batches in the past three years and availed of rehabilitation support and subsequent reintegration into mainstream communities via a provincial security initiative dubbed Program Against Violent Extremism are from hinterlands at the borders of Sumisip and nearby towns.
The NIA and the provincial government had earlier partnered in constructing multi-million irrigation facilities in Basilan’s adjoining cities of Lamitan and Isabela.
The former Abu Sayyaf members in Basilan who have returned to the fold of law are now thriving as farmers in different barangays.
Basilan was a dangerous area in the past but eventually became known as BARMM’s “new investment frontier” owing to the dramatic improvements in domestic security situation as a result of peace programs local officials started implementing five years ago.
Salliman, first elected as Basilan governor in 2016 and, subsequently, reelected in 2019, said their irrigation projects are meant to boost diversification by farmers who lost thousands of hectares of coconut farms due to worm, or “cocolisap” infestation.
The provincial government had earlier constructed a greenhouse with a drip system in Isabela City as a showcase of organic farming that can be duplicated in now agriculturally productive peace zones that have been cleared from Abu Sayyaf occupation.
The construction of the Tumahubong irrigation facility is being assisted by the office of Sumisip Mayor Julz Adnan Hataman and the Army’s 64th Infantry Battalion, Salliman was quoted in the provincial government’s April 15 press communiqué as saying.