Youth party as sector’s ‘voice’

YOUTH VOICE  --- Participants of the August 14-15 Bangsamoro Young Leaders Assembly held at Shariff Kabunsuan Complex, the provisional seat of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in Cotabato City. (PHOTO COURTESY OF BUREAU OF PUBLIC INFORMATION – ARMM / MINDANAO EXPOSE’)

COTABATO CITY --- Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Governor Mujiv Hataman has urged the youth to create a political party to have a “voice” in the upcoming Bangsamoro political entity.

“You have the right number as most of the ARMM voters are young. Create a party to act as the voice of the youth sector in the upcoming Bangsamoro parliament,” Hataman told some 200 participants during Wednesday’s (August 15) culmination of the Bangsamoro Young Leaders Assembly in the light of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) and movement on federalism at Shariff Kabunsuan Complex here.

The August 14-15 conference was organized by the region’s Office on Bangsamoro Youth Affairs (OBYA), with participants coming from the cities of Marawi and Lamitan and provinces of Maguindanao, Sulu, Tawi-tawi, Basilan, and Lanao del Sur.

Event co-organizers included the Office of Regional Governor, Department of the Interior and Local Government-ARMM, Regional Darul Ifta, and ARMM Development Academy.

During the event, Nizam Pabil, OBYA executive director, emphasized the importance of the youth’s voice in addressing current social issues.

“With recent major developments such as the Marawi siege, the youth’s participation has become instrumental in solving conflicts,” Pabil said.

He noted that the role of religious leaders is pivotal in preventing violent extremism, saying “religion was used in justifying the problem to some extent, so it is also important to note that religious leaders can also help in addressing the problem.”

“Young Ulama (Islamic scholars) and professionals also gathered for this two-day event to talk about pressing issues. Not only countering violent extremism but to dwell on issues like BOL and the talks on federalism,” he added.

Resource speakers included chairperson Mohagher Iqbal of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s implementing panel, Atty. Randolph Parcasio of the Charter change consultative committee, and Dr. Susana Anayatin of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission, who talked about the newly-signed BOL and federalism.

Pabil said inputs from the assembly would be discussed by provincial youth leaders with counterparts from their respective areas for OBYA to come out with a common stand on current issues being faced by the region.

“We think that the youth has a different perspective on these issues. That’s why we provided them a space to discuss and create a network,” he said.

Pabil said the youth leaders themselves could create a network of activities and workshops for OBYA to come up with an action plan with sustainable effect on the region's youth sector. (NOEL PUNZALAN, PNA – COTABATO  / MINDANAO EXPOSE’)

Editorial

Coming together for good

        The 18th ASIAN Games opened on the night of August 18 with  participating nations converging at Jakarta Palembang in Indonesia, which is also an archipelago like the Philippines, one of the gaming competitors in the event. The opening ceremony was magnificent, well spent and very colorful that is much entertaining even only viewed live through television.

        These athletes from different nations play to demonstrate their prowess in sports and most especially, demonstrate the values of sportsmanship, camaraderie, and cultural understanding. Notably, the two Koreas marched as one, showing no divisiveness among two sovereign states, separated only perhaps by differing ideologies --- communism and democracy. So the two can come together through sports, hoping that the talk for peace would finally reunite the Koreas... they alone can come together as one.

        In analogy, different organizations/groups with differing ideologies can co-exist and come into terms through dialogical communication and interplay. After long years of negotiation, the Moro National Liberation Front came into peace agreement with the Philippine Government and so with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a break-away group from the MNLF. The GPH-MILF talks paved way to the signing of the Bangsamoro Organic Law that will establish the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao with a parliamentary-democracy political set-up, which could also be a prelude to the formation of a federated region/state should federalism in the country is pushed forward.

        If nations come together in sports, if two Koreas march together in sports as one, then conflicting or warring groups can come together in a venue to thresh out differences and craft a peace agreement without

bloodshed. Anything is possible if we all listen to reason and spare innocent civilians from harm and meaningless destruction as this will only bleed to avenge and further distancing from each other. Hopefully, the Bangsamoro autonomy paradigm will lead us to the patch for lasting peace as this will also advance development. Of course, the peace process takes time but for so long it moves and finally the settlement. Historically, there were West and East Germany and then one power Germany.

        We know that coming together to resolve conflict is not that simple because of biases and prejudices, hatred, and suspicions. But conflict as a paradigm has its function toward change as this leads to accommodation to ease pain and further harm and restore order to make life more livable. For after a storm comes the light from the sun.

        We have to come together to process what many would want or desire --- PEACE, UNITY, and SOLIDARITY with prospect for co-existence. Sounds heavenly but it can be done… so be it! In this, all emerge as winners.    

Buldon passes 2018 SGLG award validation

GOVERNANCE PERFORMANCE  --- Mayor Abulais Manalao and Vice Mayor Cairoden Pangunotan (seated left) of Buldon and validators from DILG central office listen on the guidelines for SGLG assessment and validation presented by the Local Government Monitoring and Evaluation Division of the DILG-ARMM. (ANNE ACOSTA – MINDANAO EXPOSE’)  

BULDON, Maguindanao --- Of the 36 municipalities in the province of Maguindanao, 27 of these passed the region-wide assessment for the 2018 Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG), Regional Secretary Noor Hafizullah Abdullah Matalam of the Department of the Interior and Local Government in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (DILG-ARMM) bared. One of the qualifiers is the municipality of Buldon.

The local government of Buldon underwent last August 15 the final assessment and validation by a group of validators from the DILG-National office.

These validators are Russel Adalla and Genesis Esquilona as they were assisted by the DILG-ARMM Local Government Monitoring and Evaluation Division (LGMED) Chief Fauzia Romancap Abdulla, Shariff Aguak Municipal Local Government Operations officer and SOLG Provincial Focal Person Heria P. Dalantay, and other staff and heads of DILG-ARMM.

This national and final assessment and validation is a confirmation that the LGUs in Maguindanao and the ARMM are really providing better services to their constituents in their respective localities.

The SGLG is one of the DILG’S flagship programs symbolizing integrity and good performance of LGUs through continuing governance reform and sustained local development.

It is guided by the provisions of Republic Act 716 or the local Government Code of 1991, the general Appropriations Act of 2017 and Administrative Order No.267 of 1992. It is a progressive assessment system adopted by the department to give recognition and distinction to remarkable local government performance across several areas.

In an exclusive interview by this paper, Buldon Mayor Abolais Manalao expressed hopefulness that, for the second time around, his municipality will make it again.  Last year, 2017, “we were a SGLG awardee.”

He emphasized the importance of the distinction, not only for the prizes that one could get, but “of course the popularity of being a SGLG awardee is something to be proud off... That means, this locality is working and performing well in unity or we are together hand in hand.”

“But, of course, we are also interested in the cash prize amounting to P3-M now. Last year, we received P2-M and the cash prize we got was allocated already for the construction and rehabilitation of our farm-to-market roads and other development initiatives for our locality,” he said. (ANNE ACOSTA – MINDANAO EXPOSE’)