Cotabato City”•The Bangsamoro transitional government is building stronger ties with the region’s local government units as it trumpets moral governance in addressing roots of corruption.
Minister Naguib Sinarimbo of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao’s Ministry of the Interior and Local Government said huge resources were being wasted because local governance is hardly backed by capable officials and administrators.
“Until we are able to capacitate our LGUs with trained and capable individuals, huge government resources from their shares of the internal revenue allocations, are and will ever be put to waste,” Sinarimbo said in Tuesday’s press briefing dubbed Kapihan sa Bangsamoro at the BARMM-READi (Rapid Emergency Assistance to Disaster Incidents) Conference Room here.
At least two local government operations officers (LGOO levels II and V) will be trained, quizzed and hired by the BARMM MILG for each of the region’s 123 municipalities, three cities, and five provinces, he added.
Speaking for Bangsamoro Chief Minister Hadji Murad Ebrahim as his concurrent spokesperson, Sinarimbo said BARMM is defining its thrust of “moral governance,” by establishing stronger working relations with LGUs for development efforts and a continuing struggle against corruption, among other things.
The regional ministry has tapped expertise of executives and mentors from the Local Government Academy to help LGUs and the BARMM achieve the goals of moral governance.
Initially, 380 applicants for various local government-related positions in MLG and the region’s LGUs will be trained by LGA mentors in four months, including 45-day full classroom lecture-sessions and discussions, Sinarimbo said.
The trainees will then be sent to field immersion at different LGUs to learn from actual applications of theories raised from their classroom series, the minister-spokesman added.
Sinarimbo encouraged new graduates and employed individuals to file their application for the MILG job openings, saying he did not want to start the first quarter of 2020 without having trained and accepted successful applicants by then.
He said prior to the final stage of interview, applicants will also be required to take psychometric exams to be held simultaneously at the Tanghalang Michael Clark at the Notre Dame University here. MILG will announce schedules later.
Examination and training fees have been paid by the MILG to the LGA, “so that applicants need not worry of non-refundable fees,” Sinarimbo said.
The MILG has said the draft BARMM Local Government Code provides for appointment of permanent administrative and operations employees in all the region’s LGUs.
Programmer books of LGU calendar of activities were also distributed to local administrators to effectively backup their bosses, the mayor or the vice mayor.