MILF wants 10 ARMM areas for Bangsamoro region

MANILA, Philippines - The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) wants 10 areas in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in the proposed Bangsamoro region.

In a statement, the office of Cabinet Secretary Jose Rene Almendras identified  the areas as communities in Tawi-Tawi, Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Sulu, Zamboanga Sibugay, South Cotabato, Davao Oriental, North Cotabato, Lanao del Norte, and Maguindanao.

The MILF’s project management team identified 10 areas where caravans to start in June and end in November should run, the statement added.

The government caravans will hold medical missions, scholarship grants, and livelihood support of the Sajahatra Bangsamoro in these areas.

Almendras said the upcoming provincial caravans of the Sajahatra Bangsamoro program were discussed during a  two-day workshop with the MILF in Davao City on May 9 and 10.

The Sajahatra Bangsamoro program is President Aquino’s concrete socio-economic peace initiative launched in February 2013 following the signing of the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro in October 2012.

Sajahatra Bangsamoro, an Arabic-Melayu Bahasa derivative meaning Peace Bangsamoro, is Aquino’s concrete peace initiative and assistance for the MILF communities.

Almendras called on fellow government officials to personally commit to the program to provide services to beneficiaries.

“It touches the lives of real people,” he said.

Almendras heads the government’s Task Force for Bangsamoro Development.

Undersecretary Luisito Montalbo of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process said: “What we’re doing here is breaking barriers. The government panel cannot do this without the MILF. We are only as strong as our partnership.

“In doing the Sajahatra, the government and the MILF are focusing on our shared aspirations for the Bangsamoro so that the Moro youth will have brighter prospects for their future.

“For this program, even as government provides the services, it is the partnership between the two parties that is at the heart of the Sajahatra.”