Anak-Mindanao party-list Congresswoman Sitti Djalia Turabin Hataman is one of this year’s recipients of the Asia HRD Awards. Organized in Malaysia, this international award recognizes individuals who have made a difference in society or organization in the area of human resources. The HRD Awards is held in different countries every year.
Although she is also dubbed as the first lady of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), being married to Governor Mujiv Hataman, Sitti has held her own.
Before she became the representative of the Anak Mindanao Partylist, Hataman campaigned for Moro women empowerment.
On her award, she said, “I have served communities and individuals, especially women whose lives I am forever honored to be a part of.”
In 2007, Sitti established Pinay… Kilos!, a civil movement that sought to improve women’s status. The program educated Muslim women on diverse topics such as family planning, women’s reproductive health, the Mindanao political situation, and the peace process and livelihood programs. These programs helped women to be more engaged in their communities.
Over time, investors started to enter ARMM, capitalizing on its resources such as rice, rubber and palm oil. Sitti pointed out that an empowered Moro society emerges from an empowered community led by women, the front liners of the homes.
With the support of the Reproductive Health Law, allowing families to make informed choices about having children, and an ARMM counterpart, Moro women feel they are in charge of their lives.
Moreover, Sitti sets an example to women of being more involved in social issues such as human rights violations, social displacement in war and drugs.
She also inspired women that they can also achieve higher positions to serve the community.
Sitti became the first female executive director of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF), formerly Office of Muslim Affairs. Her main challenge was to change the conservative mindset of the people in the organization. She motivated people to be more innovative in their thinking and to make the most of resources for programs that will have a lasting beneficial effect in the communities.
“Excellence is something we strive for in everything we do because the people deserved nothing less,” said Sitti.