ARMM now bouncing back from underdevelopment

COTABATO CITY --- The military is certain residents in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao will surmount domestic security woes by sustaining ARMM’s noticeable rise now from underdevelopment.Major Gen. Carlito Galvez, Jr., commander of the Army’s 6thInfantry Division, on Saturday told ARMM officials and personnel of regional agencies he is confident the region will become an icon of good governance soon as long as its culturally-pluralistic communities will continue helping manage its affairs.Residents of the autonomous region, which covers Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, both in mainland Mindanao, and the islands of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, celebrated on Saturday ARMM’s 27thfounding anniversary.Galvez, a graduate of the Philippine Military Academy, was the keynote speaker in the anniversary celebration, held Saturday morning at the 32-hectare ARMM capitol in Cotabato City.He said he was elated when he learned that, for the first time ever, six local government units in the autonomous region, including the city government of Lamitan, received recently the vaunted 2016 Seal of Good Local Governance from the central office of the Department of Interior and Local Government. These are positive signs that the region is now rising from poverty and armed conflicts, Galvez said.The ARMM was created in 1989 via a plebiscite that resulted in the ratification of its first ever charter, the Republic Act 6734 that was to be amended to become R.A. 9054 through another referendum in 2001.Saturday’s celebration of the ARMM’s 27thfounding anniversary was led by Galvez and the region’s chief executive, Gov. Mujiv Hataman, and his deputy, Vice Gov. Haroun Al-Rashid Lucman.Galvez said the governance feats of the present ARMM leadership, particularly its tacit accomplishments in implementing multi-billion infrastructure projects, are helping stabilize security in potential conflict flashpoint areas in the region. It is not very remote that, as long as people remain united in building peace in this part of the country, the ARMM can become a `world class’ entity, Galvez said.So unique is the ARMM that it has an executive department, under the Office of the Regional Governor, and a 24-seat Regional Legislative Assembly, touted as the Little Congress of the autonomous region.Galvez said he is also impressed with the preparedness of Hataman to relinquish his post and facilitate a transition from ARMM to any political entity Malacañang and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) may possibly establish bilaterally based on peace accords both sides had forged in recent years.The government and the MILF have agreed two years ago to replace ARMM with a more administratively and politically empowered Bangsamoro government. Congress, however, did not approve the proposed measure for the creation of the MILF-led self-governing outfit, the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law, due to constitutional issues.Hataman is so confident President Rodrigo Duterte and the MILF can pursue the implementation of all the accords crafted by government and MILF negotiators in years past, meant to put peaceful closure to the decades-old Moro issue.