BARMM moves to address housing needs of 300,000 poor families

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Officials of the Ministry of Human Settlements and Development-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao are keen on connecting with foreign benefactors who can support their efforts to build houses for fewer than 300,000 homeless families in BARMM.

Reports obtained from local government units and officials in BARMM of the Commission on Audit stated that the MHSD-BARMM had constructed in the past seven years 2,007 houses in different sites in the autonomous region, now occupied by beneficiaries.

Esmael Ebrahim and Aldin Asiri, director-general and deputy minister of MSHD-BARMM, respectively, separately told reporters during a dialogue at the Bangsamoro regional capitol on Monday, April 27, that the housing units were established with the help of local government units in the five provinces and three cities in BARMM.

Mayor Roderick Furigay of Lamitan City in Basilan was quoted in radio reports on Monday as saying that the MHSD-BARMM’s housing projects in their province complement the humanitarian thrusts of their local government units and the office of their governor, Mujiv S. Hataman.

Ebrahim said they presently focus on addressing the need for houses of no less than 300,000 more families in BARMM’s Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi provinces and in its three cities, Lamitan, Marawi and Cotabato.

Ebrahim and Asiri separately told reporters that they are optimistic that foreign humanitarian organizations shall soon help push forward the BARMM government’s housing program for its marginalized, homeless constituents.

“It’s not a problem that only the Bangsamoro region has. That is something imminent too in other regions in the country,” Ebrahim said.

Asiri said the MHSD-BARMM had also constructed, in the past seven years, 39 training centers in different areas in the autonomous region, now functioning as livelihood training centers.

Asiri said their provincial offices are still currently facilitating the construction of 3,086 more houses for homeless families in the autonomous region.

Among those who had benefited from MHSD-BARMM's housing program are former combatants of the Moro National Liberation Front and the Moro Islamic Liberation relying mainly on farming and fishing as sources of income.

The MNLF and the MILF have separate peace agreements with the national government. Both fronts have representatives to the 80-seat BARMM parliament and are together overseeing the operation of some of the agencies of the regional government.