The Bangsamoro Business Club (BBC), the organization of enterprises in the Bangsamoro area, has urged President Rodrigo Duterte to discuss his concrete plans for the development of Mindanao in his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) today.
BBC President Mohamad Omar Pasigan said Bangsamoro businesses wish to know the specific programs of the Duterte administration to boost the economy of the southern part of the country, particularly in the Bangsamoro.
Specifically, BBC would like to hear the Chief Executive to detail how the government will improve infrastructure in Mindanao and how he will handle the peace negotiations in the region.
Meanwhile, impressed by his inspection on Friday of the 4.5-megawatt biomass power plant here, Duterte has ordered the release of P300 million to boost agri-industrial projects in Buluan, Maguindanao.
“I am willing to pour in P300 million for this,” the President said during his speech referring to the project following his tour and scrutiny of the power plant operation.
Minutes later, however, he said “Give the fund tomorrow. There is no problem since the money is available,” to the delight of both local officials and farming group representatives in the area.
The facility, for one, runs on oil palm leftovers that makes it eco-friendly and new source of renewable energy.
He mentioned that the provinces of Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat are two of his priority areas for development in Mindanao.
Duterte has tasked Department of Agriculture Sec. Emmanuel Piñol for the dispensation of the specific fund.
Maguindanao local officials said they assured President Duterte of their commitment to the Mindanao peace process and his campaign against illegal drugs when he met with Moro leaders led by Gov. Esmael Toto Mangudadatu.
For his part, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Secretary Jesus Dureza met Thursday with Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chairman Al Haj Murad in Sultan Kudarat town to start the new “Roadmap to Peace” in Mindanao as approved by the President.
Dureza said both parties would discuss the formation of a new government-MILF peace body inclusive of all stakeholders in Mindanao.
“We would start where the peace overture was stopped and take off from there,” Dureza said referring to the failure of Congress to act on time and pass into law the Bangsamoro Basic Law that should have enabled the transition of the old Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) into the proposed MILF-led Bangsamoro regional government.
“President Duterte’s decision to build on the gains of past negotiations and ensure the implementation of the long-signed agreements between the government and both the MNLF (Moro National Liberation Front ) and MILF, in cognizance of relevant existing legislation, is a step forward in the right direction,” ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman said.
“We also appreciate the sense of urgency that guided the decision to work on a new proposed Bangsamoro enabling law alongside moves toward the planned shift to federalism, acknowledging that the shift would take time relative to pursuing a legislation affirming the gains of a peace process that has been in motion for more than a decade,” the governor added.
Dureza also welcomed as “positive” the convergence of the MILF and the MNLF in putting closure to the Mindanao conflict.