ARMM governance summit starts today in Davao City

DAVAO CITY – President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to talk lengthily about the fanatical Dawlah Islamiya in the two-day governance summit here of local executives from across ARMM to start at noontime Wednesday.The summit, organized by the office of ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman, is a forum where the region’s 116 mayors and five provincial governors are to discuss vital governance issues and peace and security concerns to encourage administrative cooperation in addressing such woes.Organizers, among them members of the ARMM regional cabinet, said Duterte is keynote speaker in the summit, to be held at a convention facility in a mall in Davao City.The ARMM covers Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, which are both in mainland Mindanao, and the islands of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi, common bastion of the Moro National Liberation Front and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.ARMM local executives are presently confronted with security threats from three fanatical jihadist groups, the Dawlah Islamiya in Butig town in Lanao del Sur, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in Maguindanao, and the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu, touted as the country’s poorest and most dangerous province.Sulu is a hotbed of Islamic militancy and a haven of the Abu Sayyaf, known throughout the world for its practice of beheading captives snatched from abroad and nearby Mindanao provinces if ransom demands are not met.The poor performance by elected officials in Sulu is blamed for much of the security problems and the grinding poverty besetting the island province.The Dawlah Islamiya, also known as the Maute terror group, has been sowing havoc in villages in Lanao del Sur’s Butig town since November 26, plundering villages and looting houses abandoned by occupants they forced to leave at gunpoint.Participants to the summit, among them incumbent local officials from Basilan, said early Wednesday the feats in local governance of the Lamitan City government and the office of Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu shall be discussed too.The local government unit of Lamitan City and the provincial government of Maguindanao received last October the 2016 Seal of Good Local Governance from the central office of the Department of the Interior and Local Government.DILG Secretary Ismael Sueno, who hails from South Cotabato, an immediate neighbor of Maguindanao, confirmed his participation to the summit.ARMM’s regional public works secretary, Engineer Don Loong, and his subordinate-district engineers in the region’s eight congressional districts are also to join the activity.Among the first to arrive in Davao City for the two-day event was Soler Undug, chief of the Basilan District Engineering Office and the incumbent mayor of Lamitan City, the now second-termer Rose Furigay.Abu Sayyaf bandits thrice attempted recently to assassinate Undug using improvised explosive devices to derail more than P5 billion worth of current infrastructure projects meant to address poverty in far-flung areas in Basilan where Islamic militants are holding out.he Abu Sayyaf is known for using poverty besetting villages where it operates to foment public hatred to the government.Hataman and members of his regional cabinet are also expected to reassure Duterte of their commitment to the Mindanao peace process during the summit.The ARMM government has dozens of current socio-economic and infrastructure projects complementing the bilateral efforts of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process and the MILF to restore normalcy in conflict-devastated areas and generate livelihood opportunities needed to improve the lives of Moro guerrillas to hasten their assimilation into the mainstream.Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza will also attend the gathering of LGU officials from ARMM’s five component provinces, according to a senior OPAPP staff.