Revival of Maguindanao-China trade boosting ARMM economy

COTABATO CITY — The revival last month of the almost forgotten trade routes linking Maguindanao to China has ushered in improvements in the business climate of the fledgling Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

If documentations are completed within the month, entrepreneurs in Maguindanao will ship to Iran and other parts of the Middle East before yearend some 20 tons of halal dressed chicken under a livestock venture dubbed "Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines (BIMP) Poultry Program."

Halal refers to livestock which Muslims can eat, butchered according to Islamic traditions and laws.

Last month, M/V Ho Feng 7, a Chinese trading vessel, the first to arrive in Maguindanao after more than a hundred years of lull in trade between the two places, brought in 250,000 bags of Portland cement, now sold here and surrounding Maguindanao towns at P10 cheaper than local brands.

The cement shipment to the Polloc Port was facilitated by ARMM Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan and his trade secretary, Ishak Mastura, who are both of Moro-Chinese descent, and a group of foreign investors they had convinced to put up viable projects in the autonomous region.

Iranian Ambassador Jalal Kalantari, in a dialogue with regional officials early this month, said Iran is ready to accept shipments of halal food products from the autonomous region to help boost its economy.

Mastura said the traders preparing the shipment of poultry products to the Middle East are just waiting for the activation of a multisectoral ARMM halal certification board, which will issue accreditations for farm products to be exported.

"The ARMM government has the credibility and ascendancy to certify exportable farm products as halal because it has jurisdiction over a predominantly Muslim region, which has a population of almost five million eating halal food every day," he said.

Under the BIMP poultry program, Mastura said Brunei and the ARMM government will coordinate closely in setting up a multilateral halal certification network to ensure the marketability of farm products from the autonomous region.

Playing an active role in the exportation of halal farm products is the ARMM’s Regional Economic Zone Authority (REZA) in Maguindanao’s Polloc Port.

The REZA will provide tax and tariff incentives to investors who would make use of it as a trading conduit in Mindanao.

There have been more than 50 applications for business permits in the ARMM, some of them with more than P5 million in capital, since the M/V Ho Feng 7 brought in 250,000 bags of cheap cement from China last month.

Representatives of the Islamic Development Bank, which operates in the Middle East, toured Cotabato City and parts of the ARMM last July 14 and discussed possible joint ventures with local officials and businessmen.

Romeo Serra, president of the Mindanao Business Council, was quoted by local newspapers last week as saying that the initial volume of ARMM poultry products to be exported is just a small fraction of the market demand in the Middle East.

Under the BIMP cooperation, Serra said Indonesia will supply corn for poultry feeds, Malaysia will spearhead the marketing of chicken from the ARMM, while Brunei and the Philippines, through the autonomous region, will cooperate in the enforcement of an international halal regulation scheme.

Mastura said corn farmers in the ARMM, numbering about two million, will also benefit from such an economic tie-up.

He said Ampatuan has begun organizing farmers, through the ARMM’s agriculture department, into big well-founded groups for them to have a strong representation in the BIMP economic cooperation tie-up.