Security measures in place for Hataman's ARMM address

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - The police and the 1st Marine Battalion Landing Team have started imposing security measures in the surroundings of the 32-hectare compound in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in preparation for the Dec. 18 state of the region address (SORA) of ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman.

The yearly SORA is an activity of the ARMM’s 27-member Regional Assembly, touted as “Little Congress” of the autonomous region.

John Magno, who is Hataman’s chief of staff, said the ARMM police and the contingent of the Marine Battalion Landing Team 1 guarding the regional government compound are on guard, inspecting vehicles that are getting inside.

Magno said the security efforts are merely pre-emptive measures meant to thwart saboteurs.

"We have a very peaceful, quiet atmosphere here. But we're not taking chances," Magno said.

Magno said Hataman is expected to announce in his SORA his administration’s accomplishments in introducing reforms meant to fix the regional government’s fiscal and administrative woes.

Other ARMM officials are also expecting Hataman to reveal the amounts of funds saved in recent months through his administration’s stringent handling of grants from the national coffer that are earmarked for salaries and operations of line agencies and support offices under the Office of the Regional Governor (ORG).

The ORG, which Hataman has been managing on a caretaker basis since December 2011, wields ministerial control over more than 40 regional departments and support offices devolved to the ARMM by the national government.

The ARMM’s public works department just procured last month costly road-building machineries worth P41 million from its savings.

The road-building equipment has been released to the two district engineering offices in Maguindanao, a component province of ARMM.

Magno said Hataman has invited peace activists from across Mindanao, representatives of different embassies of member-states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the European Union and the UK and US governments to the Dec. 18 SORA.

Magno said they are also expecting local executives from the ARMM provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, and the cities of Lamitan and Marawi to attend the SORA.

Magno said Hataman will also renew his administration’s support to the Oct. 15 framework agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

The MILF has dozens of enclaves in the autonomous region. The rebel group’s bastion, Camp Darapanan, is located in Sultan Kudarat town in the first district of Maguindanao.