Sulu town gets livelihood assistance through peace program

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines - The social welfare office of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) has extended livelihood assistance to residents of a Sulu town to help them earn more and to keep them from joining the Abu Sayyaf group, an official said.

ARMM Bureau of Public Information Director Amir Mawallil said the DSWD-ARMM extended is providing 300 households in Talipao town with livelihood assistance under the Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan (PAMANA) program.

Mawallil said the households are members of 10 beneficiary cooperatives in the town, most of which are in agriculture productivity programs.

Citing information from regional PAMANA focal person Faida Ensanah, Mawallil said the regional DSWD has turned over several types of livelihood support machines and equipment, which include 1,399 rolls of hogwire and vulcanizing and sewing machines.

ARMM and PAMANA officials said the assistance will augment the residents’ agricultural production and income. They also believe this will also help prevent the Abu Sayyaf from using the issue of lack of access to government services to recruit new members.

Ensanah said the hogwire will help protect the cassava and vegetable plantations in the area from animals while the vulcanizing and sewing machines will provide residents with alternative sources of income.

Talipao Mayor Hadja Sitti Raya Tulawie, who assisted Ensanah during the turnover of the livelihood equipment, said the continuous livelihood assistance is giving her constituents more options to live better and and in peace.

The PAMANA is part of the administration’s peace and development tool to provide inclusive growth and to sustain peace in the region.

In a statement earlier this week, ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman said the regional government is committed to supporting the peace process, which includes giving ARMM residents better access to government services.

“Despite the failure of Congress to enact the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), the Bangsamoro people as represented by the existing [ARMM] shall persevere in supporting the [Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro] and its interim implementation. This means honoring the ceasefire and all other peace-building mechanisms in place, and in particular implementing billions of pesos in socio-economic projects by the ARMM,” he said in a statement to the media.

The Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro was signed two years ago by the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. The CAB, which is seen as a final peace agreement with the rebel group, seeks the creation of a parliamentary Bangsamoro government for a new entity that will replace the ARMM. The Bangsamoro territory, which the Bangsamoro Basic Law proposes to create, will remain a part of the Philippines but will have more autonomy than the current ARMM.

Hataman challenged candidates in the May 9 elections to refile the BBL after the winners take their oaths of office in June and to make sure that the bill is passed and enacted.