ARMM acquires road-building equipment

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Maguindanao folks are expecting the swift construction of local road projects  following the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao's  acquisition  of a new set of road-building equipment.

The ARMM acquired the equipment using savings from public work funds guarded by state auditors and civil society organizations (CSOs) helping oversee the ARMM’s coffer.

Th ARMM has turned over a single drum compactor, a motor grader, and a wheel loader -- from the P41 million worth equipment pool the ARMM procured  recently  -- to the Maguindanao district engineering office.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) augmented the package with engineering survey instruments to help in the road-building project.

The regional government has also earmarked equipment packages for other district engineering offices in the autonomous region, according to John Magno, chief-of-staff of ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman.

Magno said they are optimistic the ARMM’s public works department and other line agencies in the region will accumulate savings in the coming months owing to the tight spending measures being imposed by the Hataman administration.

“That’s part of the `reform process’ being initiated by this administration, supported and monitored by CSOs,” Magno said.

The three units of road-construction equipment were turned over by Hataman and ARMM public works secretary Emil Sadain to the Maguindanao engineering district office last week, as one of the highlights of the autonomous region’s 23rd founding anniversary celebration.

“We are very grateful to the ARMM leadership for this set of equipment. We need this badly in the province,” said Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu.

Mangudadatu said there is a need for Malacañang, the ARMM administration and the provincial government to cooperate to speed up  the construction of infrastructure projects in Maguindanao, a bastion of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Mangudadatu said building more roads and other infrastructures in the 36 towns of Maguindanao will complement President Aquino’s dealings with the MILF and will improve the  conditions of Moro communities in the supposed territory of the proposed Bangsamoro political entity.

Maguindanao First District Rep. Sandra Sema, whose office has several road projects, suggested  that the new set of equipment be utilized in improving the road linking a stretch of a national highway in Barangay Simuay in Sultan Kudarat municipality in her district to Camp Darapanan, the MILF’s largest enclave in Southern Mindanao.

Sema, who is identified with the Moro National Liberation Front, has used part of her Priority Development Assistance Fund for the paving of 500 meters of the road linking Barangay Simuay to the office of MILF chieftain Al-Haj Murad inside Camp Darapanan.

Sema is also seeking a special grant from the central office of the Department of Agriculture for at least a one-kilometer extension of the concreting project of the Simuay-Darapanan road.

“The Agriculture department already assured [us] of its support to that very important road project,” Sema said.

Sadain said it is up to local officials in Maguindanao and the provincial district engineering office to decide which project would use the heavy equipment first. 

Sadain said the P41-million equipment pool was purchased according to existing rules of the Commission on Audit and the Department of Budget and Management.

“We exercised tact and prudence and transparency in the procurement process,” Sadain said.

The transaction was monitored by Hataman, volunteers from different civil society organizations, officials of various peace advocacy outfits, and representatives of the Fourth Estate.

“We saw to it that the funds intended for the procurement was spent honestly,” Sadain said.

Magno said Hataman will involve more representatives of media outfits in the regional government’s subsequent procurement processes to  be more transparent in  the use of the region's funds. - John Unson