OCD-ARMM PROVIDES TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE ON “HVCA” TRAINING

Datu Odin Sinsuat, MAGUINDANAO- The Office of Civil Defense-ARMM has provided technical assistance during the three-day conduct of Hazard, Vulnerability, and Capacity Assessment (HVCA) training to at least thirty (30) participants from the Province of Maguindanao held at Em Manor Hotel, Cotabato City from September 13-17, 2016.

Funded by the United Nations- World Food Programme (UN-WFP), it was an early requested activity by the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office of Maguindanao that was later on approved by the UN-WFP.

Mauricio Civiles, DRRM Focal Person of the Department of Interior and Local Government- ARMM and one of the facilitators to the activity, said that hazard assessment is very important for it is an evaluation of potential hazards.

“This is very relevant most especially that the province of Maguindanao is prone to flooding considering its low lying areas. Now we have these provincial officers and with their technical people around, it is our objective to assist them,” said Civiles.

Nova Eloiza P. Ybañez, Training Officer of OCD-ARMM, said the vulnerability assessment or sometimes known as the vulnerability analysis in disaster management simply means assessing the threats from potential hazards to a certain population which include infrastructure.

“In fact it comes in two, the Vulnerability and Capacity Assessments or the VCA,” said Ybañez.

Ybañez emphasized the VCA uses different tools to measure the people’s exposure to and capacity to resist both natural and human induced hazards.

“Here in the ARMM, we do not only face natural hazards but also the recurring human induced activities. This is an essential part of disaster preparedness for it contributes to the creation of various community-based disaster preparedness programs up to the grassroots level,” said Ybañez.

Engr. Amier Ashan Aplal, Operations Officer of OCD-ARMM, said the VCA is undertaken in various communities to diagnose the specific areas of risk and vulnerability and determine what actions can be done to address them.

“We do this because it is our objective to involve communities, local authorities, humanitarian and development organizations, and as we draw up action plans to prepare for and respond to the specified risks. As we identify the risk-reduction activities, we could prevent or lessen the effects of hazards, risks and its vulnerabilities,” said Aplal.(GILMHAR A. LAO, Information Officer-OCD ARMM/MINDANAO EXPOSE’)

DPWH-ARMM Tapatan sa ARMM

Secretary Don Mustapha Loong of ARMM's Public Works and Highways and other district engineers answered queries of the media in a press conference dubbed "Tapatan sa ARMM" on Thursday, September 15, 2016, at Al-Nor Convention Center in Cotabato City.

To date, Secretary Loong said one-third of the total number of senior high school building projects across the ARMM are completed.

Loong added some infrastructure in the region are also being constructed to support tourism in the ARMM, that include circumferential road in the province of Sulu; access road going to the Sheikh Karim-ul Makhdum Mosque and construction and development of Bud Bongao, both in Tawi-Tawi; and access roads going to Bubuludtuwa Falls in Maguindanao.

Regular infrastructure budget of DPWH-ARMM for 2016 is at P10.103 billion, which includes the concreting of 485 kilometers of roads and construction of 26 bridges.

DPWH-ARMM targets the concreting of more than 900 kilometers of roads in 2017. (BUREAU OF PUBLIC INFORMATION/MINDANAO EXPOSE’)

ARMM CONDUCTS CLEAN-UP DRIVE

Hundreds of officials and employees of the different line agencies in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) joined the coastal clean-up drive in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao on Wednesday, September 13, 2016.

The activity, spearheaded by ARMM's environment and natural resources department (DENR-ARMM) was part of the 116th anniversary celebration of the Philippine Civil Service.

The activity covered at least 3.5 kilometers of coastal areas in three barangays of the said municipality such as Badak, Kusiong and Tapian. (BUREAU OF PUBLIC INFORMATION/MINDANAO EXPOSE’)

JAPANESE INVESTORS IS IN COTABATO CITY

COTABATO CITY (Sept.14) ---A group of Japanese investors is in Cotabato City to explore the areas where they can hatch and breed "Unagi", a freshwater eel that is a highly popular ingredient in Japanese dishes. This type of eel currently has a big demand around the globe that resulted to a significant reduction in its population for the past half century. In fact, the Japanese Ministry for the Environment has already included the Japanese eel in its list of endangered species.

According to these Japanese investors and researchers, the freshwater eel that is sold in South Central Mindanao is from the waters surrounding Cotabato City. This is why they personally came to test our freshwater and look on the possibility of breeding eels here and later export them not only to Japan but to other Asian countries as well.

Acting City Mayor VM Atty. Frances Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi has assured these investors that the city government is more than willing to extend whatever assistance they may need in the course of their research and in time when they are going to build the hatcheries and breeding sites.

"Cotabato City is currently expanding with all the commercial businesses that are coming in. But we also welcome those who want to help us improve our aquaculture as this is also one of the industries that we have here," the Vice Mayor said.

Cotabato City has a total of about 550 hectares of fishponds that are currently being used for growing milkfish (bangus) and prawns. (HALIMA K. SATOL-IBRAHIM/MINDANAO EXPOSE’)

Fighting Malnutrition Amid Fire-fights

 

(This is how you look for a SAM child: you weigh, take the height, measure arm circumference using mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) tape, check for bilateral pitting edema. (19 July 2016, Jaz, Sulu) 

I started as a HOManitarian volunteer in my province of Sulu in 2015, working in highly insecure areas. I just learned about the Community-based Management of Acute Malnutritiion from my brother who started working for HOM as a local health and nutrition officer.

He’s been telling me about the miracles of finding children in near-death and utterly skin-and-bones and magically bringing them back from the edge. We call them SAM, short for Severely Acute Malnourished children.

How convinced I was he started showing me pictures of the children who were given another lease in life! As if the stories and photos of these children weren’t enough, I accompanied him during his community visits and saw for myself the transformation. I was more than convinced that this is how I should be spending my time and talent — the way I should be giving back to my own place and people.

Well, may I ask what immediately comes into your mind when you hear Sulu? You may know Sulu through what you read in the papers, what you hear on the TV or radio, what the social media paint us to be. But have you seen, heard, tasted, and breathe Sulu for your own?

I can say that today, as I write this, the things you say may all be true. The seemingly unending shower of mortars, brief but frequent pauses in the tranquility due to gunfights, interrupted sleep because of helicopters hovering above, and heavy traffic caused by the sheer number of armed-personnel carriers and military-filled 6x6 trucks. These traumatize you in many ways unimaginable. Even the sight of men, I do not know, makes me doubt that he could be an Abu Sayyaf member. Have you ever imagined how war makes you trust nobody else but yourself?

Days ago, I caught a man aiming a camera at my child cousin and me. I heard rumors that certain people are getting random photos and doing background checks on the people in the photos. I assume I now have a lengthy profile of myself in their database.

One afternoon, I received reports, or shall I say cries of help from my counterparts in the municipalities where we are, that they could no longer go on with the routine of finding and managing these SAM patients because of heavy fire-fight. The Rural Health Units, the main health facilities where we’re supposed to deliver our supplies and services, have closed down. No health staff is reporting and all its constituents have left the place. The people are now considered internally displaced persons.

No matter how I wish to continue rendering services for these vulnerable populations, I first have to look out for myself. Self-preservation. But it really makes me feel sorry for many things. I want to be there to make sure the supplies are still within reach even though these people have already evacuated. I wanted to spend time with the parents, telling them what they can still do to rehabilitate their child and prevent future relapse. And most of all, I want to be able to make the children feel that there are certain people working for a better and healthier world for them.

Of course, I could not have done this without the hands that support initiatives like these. My deepest gratitude and utmost respect to the champions in the Sulu Integrated Provincial Health Office, Rural Health Units, and Barangay Health Stations that rose above and beyond the call of duty.

Since we started CMAM in Sulu, we were able to treat around 500 SAM children. I wanted to share to you what treating 500 SAM children look like now. I wanted to show you a snap of what happens daily to the health centers in my midst. But even I, a local, could no longer take pictures for fear that I may be implicated in this mess which I, honestly, do not know how everything started and where all these are headed towards.

But I am still looking up. I know that in time, things will get better. But like all compelling changes, it will be hard before it gets better. (ANGEL ANGKAYAH / MINDANAO EXPOSE’)

Septage Management System to Establish in the City of Cotabato now a City Ordinance

Cotabato City - on September 13, Tuesday, the Local Legislative Body of Cotabato City approved the Septage Management System under city ordinance number 4407 series of 2016. The said system will help minimize the effect of environmental degradation in the city through its mechanism to treat dirty water that kills E. Coli and fecal coliform bacteria or pathogenic organisms that causes harm to consumers.

During the Inaugural address of City Vice Mayor Atty. Frances Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi, the Septage Management System is one of the proposed projects in the city that needs prioritization; “Water-borne diseases is something we cannot circumvent but should be prevented… This is where the administration saw the need to implement the Septage Management System in the city and create a City Ordinance because aside from wastes coming from the populace, we also aim to develop the socio-economic growth and industrial improvements in the city,” added by the official.

Vice Mayor Guiani-Sayadi also explained that in 2007, Notre Dame University research center conducted a study analyzing water conditions in the city to determine the physical-chemical and biological characteristics of the three major rivers. The study found out that residents living alongside rivers had been afflicted by water-borne diseases caused by unsanitary practices and the lack of toilet facilities that may result to diarrhea, amoebiasis, typhoid fever and other water-borne related diseases.

“Each of us plays a big role in implementing this ordinance, we must cooperate in preserving our environment… a simple act of cleaning your household and proper practice of wastes disposal will help save and restore our environment especially our water system against harmful bacteria,” stated by the official.

The said system is a joint project of the City Government of Cotabato in partnership with Metro Cotabato Water District (MCWD) and The United States Agency for International Development (USAID). (CITY GOVERNMENT OF COTABATO-MINDANAO EXPOSE’)

Inter-agency Friendship Game Opening Program

In line with the 116th Philippine Civil Service Anniversary celebration the CSC in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao opened its annual sports festival today, September 13 at the Commission on Audit-ARMM covered court inside the ARMM Compound in Cotabato City.

The celebration carried the theme "Sigaw ng Lingkod Bayani: Malasakit Para sa Taumbayan, Kapwa Kawani at Kalikasan".

The event was attended by the ARMM officials and employees of different line agencies. (BUREAU OF PUBLIC INFORMATION – MINDANAO EXPOSE’)

ARMM Remains Committed to Special Emergency Education Recovery Program

Cotabato City (September 14, 2016) – The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) through its flagship initiative Humanitarian and Development Action Program (ARMM-HDAP) remains committed in the implementation of special emergency education recovery program (SEERP) in 31 conflict-affected schools in Maguindanao.

Hadja Bai Taya Aplal, Director II of the region’s Department of Education (DepEd-ARMM) and focal person of the SEERP, said based on the monitoring, assessment, and validation of the regional government’s education cluster, 12,215 students were affected by the conflict brought about by the Mamasapano incident in January 2015.

“There are more than 12,000 affected students after the Mamasapano incident, so with the new program of the ARMM, we conducted several activities to help and encourage students to go to school,” Aplal said.

The HDAP assessment in January 2016 involving 10,457 students for school year 2015-2016, a total of 5,389 were identified as malnourished and slow learners in 31 schools in Maguindanao division 1.

Aplal said her office conducted a series of training and capability building for school principals, teachers, school nurses, guidance councilors, and school planning officers.

Under the SEERP, DepEd conducts psychosocial support services, psychosocial first aid, food supplementation – two snacks and a lunch – and declaring the beneficiary institutions as Salam (Peace) schools.

“Through SEERP, students are motivated to go to school. The psychosocial support services alleviate the physical and physiological attributes of the affected students and the community and parents help us too in sustaining the supplementary feeding actvities,” Aplal said.

ARMM has allocated P13.2 million for the implementation of the support services education recovery program and special education recovery program.

The ARMM-HDAP is a project of the regional government under the Hataman administration. It implements various government initiatives specifically, relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction of both “horizontal” – in reference to school buildings, houses, and health centers – and “vertical” infrastructures – or roads and bridges, and provision of livelihood programs that will promote peace and help the situation in calamity-affected communities specifically in 15 Maguindanao towns.

Atty. Laisa Alamia, ARMM Executive Secretary, said HDAP has two major components: humanitarian and development. She explained that under the humanitarian component, the program provides immediate humanitarian response until such time that the displaced families have returned and recovered from the disaster. The development component covers the rehabilitation and development of the affected areas.

The conflict-affected municipalities in Maguindanao are Shariff Aguak, Pagatin (Datu Saudi Ampatuan), Mamasapano, Shariff Saydona Mustapha, Datu Salibo, Talitay, Talayan, Datu Anggal Midtimbang, Guindulungan, Datu Piang, Rajah Buayan, Datu Unsay Ampatuan, Datu Hoffer Ampatuan, Datu Abdullah Sangki and Datu Odin Sinsuat.

“We hope that through this (ARMM-HDAP), we will be able to uplift and alleviate the situation of the people in the 2nd district of Maguindanao despite the conflict that is happening right now,” Atty. Alamia said.

Secretary Alamia added that the regional government will strictly monitor the implementation of projects under HDAP. “We have a Project Management Office that will look up and monitor project implementation and we expect the different agencies to comply in time and in accordance with plans that have been drafted,” she said. (BUREAU OF PUBLIC INFORMATION – MINDANAO EXPOSE’)

35 ARMM young leaders to take part in month-long leadership program

COTABATO CITY-- The Office of the ARMM Governor, the Eisenhower Fellows Association of the Philippines, and the Ayala Foundation Inc. launched the 2016 Bangsamoro Young Leaders Program - Leadership Communities (BYLP-LeadCom) on Sunday, September 11, 2016 at the ARMM Compound in Cotabato City.

BYLP-LeadCom is a year-long leadership platform that aims to empower young leaders to respond to the rapidly changing solutions-based leadership in the context of thematic areas of health, education, livelihood, and peace.

 35 youth leaders from different provinces of ARMM will undergo a series of learning experiences in different key cities in the country starting this week.

These youth, after a month-long learning circuit, will then proceed to the project implementation where they will be directly engaged in transforming their own communities across Bangsamoro as an opportunity to strengthen their newly acquired skills.

The BYLP-LeadCom started out as Bangsamoro Young Leaders Program in 2015 with 28 fellows from the province of Basilan. (BUREAU OF PUBLIC INFORMATION/MINDANAO EXPOSE’)

ARMM inaugurates P7M hostel

COTABATO CITY-- ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman and Major Gen. Edmundo Pangilinan, commander of the Philippine Army's 6th Infantry Division,inaugurated on Saturday, 10 September, a P7M, two-storey, hostel at Camp Siongco, Awang, Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao.

The hostel, called the El Rajah's Palace, is a joint project of the ARMM government and the Philippine Army. It is located at the PA's 6th ID headquarters and meant to provide visiting military personnel,government workers and members of the media a comfortable and affordable place to stay.

The Office of the Regional Governor-ARMM funded the construction of the building, which was undertaken by Army engineers. (BUREAU OF PUBLIC INFORMATION/MINDANAO EXPOSE’)