BONGAO, Tawi-Tawi – The economic potential of this southernmost province is being maximized through the joint efforts of the national and local governments and the private sector, with help from the US government.
This week, US Ambassador Kristie Kenney, together with Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, Tawi-Tawi Gov. Sadikul Sahali, Tawi-Tawi Rep. Nur Jafaar, and Bongao Mayor Albert Que, inaugurated the Lato-Lato boat landing in Barangay Luuk Pandan here.
The 30-meter concrete boat landing, constructed under the barangay infrastructure project component of the Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM) Program of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), will improve the sea transport of passengers and cargo in the locality.
Present at the inauguration were Undersecretary Virgilio Leyretana, chairman of the Mindanao Economic Development Council, USAID mission director Jon Lindborg, and USAID economic growth adviser Robert Barnes.
The boat landing will also support the multi-species hatchery turned over by the Department of Agriculture to the Tawi-Tawi provincial government.
This facility will ensure that fish farmers in the province – among them former combatants of the Moro National Liberation Front who, with the help of GEM Program training, have engaged in high-value aquaculture – will have a sustainable supply of juveniles to culture and supply to Metro Manila and Asian markets.