COTABATO CITY --- The recent armed
conflict in the town of Butig in Lanao del Sur has hampered the project
implementation of some P50 million worth of infrastructures in the affected
areas of the province and elsewhere where confrontations are spilled over.
But despite the situation, Don Mustapha Loong, regional
secretary of the Department of Public Works and Highways in the Autonomous
Region in Muslim Mindanao, said the regional government remains positive on the
support of the national leadership under President Rodrigo Roa Duterte in terms
of peace platform and development initiatives.
“We are calling the attention of our local
government units to be more pro-active and decisive in ensuring the stability
of peace and order in their respective localities,” the regional secretary appealed.
Loong expressed hopefulness on the positive
responses of local leaders, saying it is a good start of giving assurance that
social services by the government are reaching even the farthest communities of
the autonomous region.
“When there is conflict, it does not only affect
the rural heal heath workers or the teachers, but also our engineers deployed
in the field due to the stand-off. So we call on the active participation of
our local leaders because their constituents look up to them in assuring them
of stability,” he said.
Loong narrated how it is difficult from their end
to implement their projects, most especially in the conflict-affected areas.
“In Butig alone, we have a flagship project there,
the Butig to Pigcawayan road and Butig to Barira road. The length of the road
extends to at least three kilometers. As a matter of fact, even before the
recent conflict perpetuated by terrorist groups sparked in the town, peace and
order was already our problem ever since,” he lamented.
He said one national contractor was forced to stop
their ongoing project implementation due to the situation.
“We have several projects affected by conflict in
nearby municipalities because it’s a common knowledge that when a particular
incident erupts, it easily escalates to the nearby communities,” he said.
Loong revealed some sentiments of local residents
“on the unfair treatment among the Moro people” or ”not feeling the existence
of the government.”
“This is the high time that they have to feel there
exists a true and working government ready to support them with our various
development plans. We would want them to be one with the government,” he said.
Loong cited one significant long-term solution to
the problem, which is the continuous implementation of infrastructure projects
such as road networks.
“This 2016, as we added another 400 kilometers of
road network projects, we have already reached more than a thousand kilometers,”
he said. (GILMHAR A. LAO & ANNE B.
ACOSTA / MINDANAO EXPOSE’)
No comments:
Post a Comment