COTABATO CITY — The Infrastructure Development Committee (IDCom) of the Bangsamoro Economic and Development Council (BEDC) held its first regular meeting for the year 2021 on Monday, February 15, at Bangsamoro Planning and Development Authority (BPDA) Conference Hall, Bangsamoro Government Center, this city.
The said meeting was conducted ahead of its quarterly schedule to approve the proposed two (2) IDCom Sub-Committees on Energy and Information, Communications and Technology (ICT). The proposed creation of the 2 sub-committees is in lined with the program of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) to fast track the implementation of its various infrastructure programs.
The proposed Sub-Committee on ICT shall undertake this year’s big impact projects like Digitization Program and the establishment of BARMM’s Network Operations Center and BARMM Satellite Internet Broadband and Direct Broadband Network. These interlinked programs were envisioned to make the services of the Ministry of Transportation and Communication (MOTC) like licensing and reporting more faster, easier, efficient, and real time.
Furthermore, the aforementioned program shall establish automations of transactions of the MOTC’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System wherein all seven (7) district and attached agencies, provincial offices, district, and extension licenses offices will be connected via Micro Data Center. On the proposed Sub-Committee on Energy, this will undertake the various energy programs that the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources and Energy (MENRE) will do this year which include discovering new sources of energy such as hydro, wind, and solar power in the BARMM and the tapping of gas and oil in the Liguasan Marsh.
During the meeting, the focal persons of the committee’s member ministries including the Ministries of Public Works (MPW), Agriculture, Fisheries and Agrarian Reform (MAFAR), Human Settlement and Development (MHSD), Interior and Local Government (MILG), MENRE, and MOTC presented their status reports on infrastructure projects of the BARMM from 2019 to 2020. In his message, MPW Director General Engr. Danilo A. Ong who acted as the Co-Chair during the committee meeting, said that in planning the bright future of the BARMM, there is a need to establish a very viable and feasible plans and programs.
Additionally, he emphasized that this might be a jihad in another form that is about justice, integrity, accountability, and devotion to duty in response to the moral governance policy of the Chief Minister Ahod B. Ebrahim.“Jihad is all about engaging into the battle; but there is another form of jihad greater than engaging into the battle and this is jihad about oneself, about accountability of your responsibility to the people and to the community. I intend to discuss jihad because we have the governance for all which is the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. It entails so much sacrifices, blood, sweat, and tears by our Mujahideen who engaged into the jihad or a war for the sake of our people. Now, we deal the success of their struggle as form part of this organization the Bangsamoro ARMM,” Ong stressed.Moreover, MHSD Director General Sheikh Esmael W. Ebrahim cited the difference between the concept of good governance and moral governance and gave emphasis on the responsibilities and accountabilities of the BARMM officials and employees.“I would like to reiterate again the vision of the BARMM Government or moral governance because naiiba kasi iyong concept ng moral governance to just good governance. Why? Because primarily like good governance, sometimes we are responsible for bosses, sometimes we are responsible maybe for the Commission on Audit, and sometimes we are responsible to the Chief Minister.
These can be a concept of what we called good governance but speaking of moral governance, yes, we are responsible, accountable for COA, accountable to our Chief Minister, accountable for everybody, and for most accountable to Allaho Subhanaho Wa Taala. The positions that we have now and where we are now, these are the fruits of sweat, blood, and the lives of our Mujahideen,” Director Ebrahim emphasized.Meanwhile, Engr. Mohajirin T. Ali, Bangsamoro Director General of the BPDA and Committee Co-Chair, encouraged the ministries to secure a copy of the 1st Bangsamoro Development Plan (BDP). Further, he ensured that all infrastructure projects and other programs are aligned to the plan itself and anchored to its eight (
development goals. In his closing message, MOTC Deputy Minister Abunawas L. Maslamama said that if this platform (IDCom-BEDC) will be utilized properly, it will usher the development of the Bangsamoro homeland because infrastructures are magnet of development.
Also present during the committee meeting were BPDA’s Infrastructure Planning Division Chief EnP Gil M. Cambronero, MAFAR Director II Engr. Ismail Guiamel, MENRE’s Energy Management and Development Services (EMDS) Director II Engr. Nasiri B. Abas, and MILG Planning Officer V Engr. Abibazar W. Sali. (BPDA-BARMM)