MILG-BARMM continues projects to capacitate LGUs

COTABATO CITY – Minister Naguib Sinarimbo of the Ministry of the Interior and Local Government in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (MILG-BARMM) today said his office has continued to deliver programs with a combination of capacity development, performance, incentives and infrastructure support to local government units across the region.

In a statement Tuesday, Atty. Sinarimbo outlined the on-going programs programs that included the following:

First, formation of barangay alliance for the clusters of 63 barangays from North Cotabato that now forms the Special Geographic Area (SGA) of the ARMM.

“The formation of the alliance will allow these barangays to coordinate better their services and allow them maximize the exercise of their corporate powers for some socio-economic projects being provided by the ministry,” Sinarimbo, a lawyer said. This workshop is for the Clusters in Pikit.

Second, MILG-BARMM Localizing e-Governance for Accelerated Provision of Services (LeAPs) Team is in Lamitan City to assess the internet connection and other capacities of the LGUs for purposes of setting up the Digital Center in Lamitan for our joint project with UNDP on Localizing e-Governance for Accelerated Provision of Services.

Lamitan is among the LGUs targeted for e Governance in the region.

Third, SGLG assessment for Lanao “allows our Team to check on the compliance of candidate LGUs for the prestigious award of Seal of Good Local Governance for this year. The award has been suspended for two years now because of the pandemic.”

Fourth, “We are also enhancing the draft Bangsamoro Local Governance to incorporate the radical consequence of the increase in the share of Local Government Units in the taxes collected in the country which was formerly limited to internal rdvenue taxes.”

“Given the Mandanas ruling of the Supreme Court the LGUs will now get a share from all taxes collected and not just from internal revenue. Consequently, there has to be a re-allocation of functions and responsibilities among national government, regional government, and Local Government units in the BARMM,” he added.

Sinarimbo paraphrased a popular movie line "with greater resource for LGUs, comes greater responsibility" in further explaining greater responsibilities for BARMM LGUs.

Fifth, the Municipal Building project to support the LGU of Simunul in Tawi Tawi is taking shape.

“Our aim is to ensure that by 2023, all municipalities in the BARMM would have a permanent Municipal Hall where people can ask their local leaders for better services,” Sinarimbo said.