P30-B Bangsamoro gov't center project launched

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Officials launched on Thursday, August 13, the construction in the seaside Parang town in Maguindanao del Norte of the P30 billion Bangsamoro regional government center, something that the local communities expect to boost the investment climate in the province.

Since 2019, regional offices of nearly all ministries and support agencies under the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao have been temporarily housed at the 32-hectare former capitol complex of the now-defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in Cotabato City, about 30 kilometers away.

The launching of the BARMM government center project in Barangay Landasan in Parang, one of the 12 towns in Maguindanao del Norte, was jointly led by Bangsamoro Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua, members of their 80-seat parliament and other dignitaries, among them the ambassador of Malaysia to the Philippines, Dato’ Abdulmalik Melvin Castileno, and representatives from the office of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Malaysia, a member of the influential Organization of Islamic Cooperation, composed of more than 50 Muslim states, including petroleum-exporting nations in the Middle East and North Africa, helped broker the final truce between Malacañang and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. The compact, a product of 22 years of peace talks between the MILF and Malacañang, paved the way for the replacement in 2019 of the then 27-year ARMM with a more empowered BARMM.

Parang Mayor Cahar Ibay, Maguindanao del Norte Vice Gov. Marshall Sinsuat, and a member of the BARMM parliament, the lawyer Ishak Mastura, who is from a noble Moro clan in Sultan Mastura and Sultan Kudarat towns that are both close to Barangay Landasan, separately told reporters that the setting up of a P30 billion government center in the area will hasten socio-economic development in Moro and non-Moro bastions around.

“That will improve the investment potentials of Parang and nearby towns. We want that project done without delay. That will make investors outside feel that it is safe to put up big businesses around the location of that government center,” said Mastura, who had served as trade and investment secretary of ARMM prior to the creation of BARMM in 2019.

Macacua, who is overseeing all ministries and support agencies under the Bangsamoro government and is figurehead of the BARMM parliament, said the project has two phases, each costing P15 billion, or a total of P30 billion.

“We are confident that this project will be accomplished according to an implementation timeframe plotted by engineers,” Macacua said

Sinsuat, who was elected vice governor of Maguindanao del Norte just last year, said he and his constituent-leaders in his hometown, Datu Blah Sinsuat, appreciate the BARMM government center project.

"For us, that is something paid for with the lives of the members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Moro National Liberation Front who perished in their bloody uprising for Moro autonomy under Philippine sovereignty.

The MILF and the MNLF, which have separate peace agreements with the national government, both have representatives to the 80-seat BARMM regional lawmaking body and are together managing some of the agencies under the Bangsamoro government.