'Digital operation' of 9 BARMM LGUs mulled

COTABATO CITY — Residents of nine more areas shall soon get electronically connected to their local government units via a “digitalization project” of the United Nations Development Programme and the Bangsamoro local government ministry.

The project, dubbed Localizing E-Governance for Accelerated Provision of Services (LeAPS), is bankrolled by the UNDP, first tested in 2020 in the municipalities of Butig and Piagapo, both in Lanao del Sur.

Mayor Hanie Bud of Maluso town in Basilan said on Wednesday that during a a symbolic rite in Davao City last week, he and eight other mayors from across the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao signed memorandums of agreement with the Ministry of the Interior and Local Government-BARMM binding their respective offices and the regional government to jointly implement the LeAPS project.

The office of BARMM Local Government Naguib Sinarimbo and the beneficiary-LGUs shall set up the electronic digitalization of the public service and administration functionaries of the nine municipalities with the support of UNDP.

“We are thankful to the UNDP and the MILG-BARMM for this endeavor. We shall work very hard for the success of this LeAPS project,” Bud said.

Besides Maluso, a booming seaside municipality, also covered by the expanded LeAPS project are the towns of Maimbung and Omar in Sulu, Upi in Maguindanao del Norte, Paglat in Maguindanao del Sur, Wao in Lanao del Sur, Marawi City and Cotabato City, where BARMM’s regional capitol is located.

Upi Mayor Rona Flores said that the electronic digitalization of their LGU's operation will improve its health, social welfare and other basic services for the Muslim, Christian and non-Moro ethnic Teduray communities in their municipality.

Upi had thrice received in the past five years the vaunted Seal of Good Local Governance, or SGLG citation from the central office of the Department of the Interior and Local Government for its efficiency in handling public funds and its extensive peace and security and environment-protection programs.

Kalma Jikiri-Isnain, director of the Integrated Resource Development for Tri-people, said that they are certain that the effort of the MILG-BARMM and UNDP can also boost their anti-child labor programs in the autonomous region that are being implemented along with the International Labour Organization and the office of Bangsamoro Labor Minister Muslimin Sema.