Hataman appoints more Moro women to ARMM gov't

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Gov. Mujiv Hataman enlisted another Moro woman in the executive department of ARMM to help him reform the regional bureaucracy and implement peace and development projects for local communities.

Hataman appointed Wednesday Amihilda Sangcopan, who is of Tausog descent, as chief-of-staff of the Office of the Regional Governor (ORG), which has ministerial control over more than 30 line agencies and support offices devolved by the regional government.

The ARMM governor had appointed lady lawyer Laisa M. Alamia as regional executive secretary and reinstated Khal Mambuay-Campong, who is of Maranaw descent, as Cabinet secretary.  

The newly-appointed local government secretary of the ARMM, Anwar Malang, said Hataman’s tapping of Moro women to help manage the ORG was something never done before by past administrations, since the region’s creation in 1990.

The three Moro women Hataman installed to sensitive positions in the ORG, touted as “Little Malacanang” of the autonomous region, will discharge their duties and functions under the governor’s direct supervision.

Sangcopan is virtually not a “new comer,” having occupied the same post from December 11 to early 2013.

Hataman said he decided to re-appoint Sangcopan -- who replaced former ORG chief-of-staff Dr. John Magno, who has resigned to pursue his career as an academician --- on the basis of her good performance while with the ARMM’s caretaker administration.

Hataman, whom President Benigno Aquino III appointed as caretaker of ARMM in December 2011, was elected regional governor in the region’s May 13 elections.

Sangcopan said her office will be open to all employees of the region’s rank-and-file and all residents of ARMM.

Sangcopan and Alamia, meanwhile, both announced Thursday that the ORG allocated an initial tranche of P1 million for rehabilitation and relief provisions for some 2,000 families affected by last week’s attacks by the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters on Army positions at the border of Maguindanao’s Datu Piang and Saidona towns.

Alamia said the grant will be channeled through the ARMM’s social welfare department, which is now attending to the needs of the evacuees.

Sangcopan said Hataman has also instructed the regional social welfare secretary to help in the medication of seven villagers, two of them pre-school children, who were wounded in the cross-fire between the military and the BIFF.