COTABATO CITY—The Bangsamoro Government is engaging mothers widowed by the wars in the ‘70s and more recent conflicts in livelihood and policy-based support programs to improve their lot.
Zokria Abas, one of the widowed mother-beneficiaries in SGA-Carmen Cluster, said she is being thankful that the regional government provides the tool for them to win the next level of the struggle—to combat poverty through livelihood programs and fight for good governance and the right to education.
“SGA” stands for Special Geographic Area, referring to clusters of 63 barangays in Cotabato Province that voted in February 2019 to join the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
“The Bangsamoro Government is aware of our struggles. This is only the beginning of the many more help we were promised,” Abas said.
BARMM Interior and Local Government Minister Naguib Sinarimbo said no amount of assistance could bring back the lives of the fallen Moros during the Bangsamoro struggle for self-determination.
“The Bangsamoro Government cannot replace the lives of our former comrades in the Bangsamoro struggle,” Sinarimbo said during the start on September 14 of the convergent distribution of financial and livelihood assistance package to widows of war in the Midsayap and Carmen Clusters of the SGA.
But he said with a support mechanism, the BARMM and the Bangsamoro Integrated Rehabilitation and Development (BIRD) Program will help alleviate widows and orphans of wars from state of poverty.
“However, with this assistance from the Government of BARMM, and with the help of the BIRD Program, much is in store for the widows of war,” Sinarimbo added.
Sinarimbo underscored the importance of enabling the widows to meet their immediate family needs, while also providing them with long-term sustainable development programs.
Sinarimbo said the goal is to transform the state of widowed mothers-beneficiaries through capacity building, rural infrastructure development, and livelihood assistance package.
He said there are plans to organize them into a cooperative to help accelerate livelihood development even further.
Public market buildings currently being constructed in SGA clusters will also enable them to be more engaging partners in sustainable livelihood activities to effectively support their families and pave the way for their communities through a brighter and more stable future.