BARMM sets another convergent event for Basilan

By Ali G. Macabalang

Above photo shows Chief Minister Ahod Balawag Ebrahim handing over to Basilan residents some goodies in an earlier episode of the Project TABANG in the island province. *(BIO Photo)*

COTABATO CITY – Another wave of convergent service deliveries from the interim bureaucracy of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) is set for the component Basilan island province in the last week of this month, September.

The event was planned and will be led by the Office of the Chief Minister (OCM), through its Project Tulong Alay sa Bangsamorong Nangangailangan (TABANG), the Bangsamoro Information Office (BIO) said in a statement.

Project TABANG is a convergence activity of the different BARMM ministries which aims to bring all its government services to the people, the BIO said.

It has been conceived to help ensure that the regional bureaucracy is able to optimize its delivery of services and/or goodies to majority if not all target communities, and spare countryside villagers from the burden of traveling to the Cotabato City-based BARMM government seat, Project TABANG officials said.

“Ang Project TABANG ay ang facilitator ng pagbuo nitong big event na pangungunahan ni Chief Minister Ahod Ebrahim,” TABANG Project Manager Tomanda Antok was quoted as saying.

The upcoming event will include relief distribution, distribution of agri-fisheries inputs, free medical consultation, distribution of medicines, free business registration and business counseling, and legal services, among others, the BIO said.

“Sa ating mga kababayan, lagi pong (tandaan) na ang BARMM ay nalikha upang mapabuti kondisyon ng lahat o nakararaming mamamayan sa rehiyon,” the TABANG project official said.

The Ministries of Social Services and Development, Interior and Local Government, Health, Agriculture, Fisheries and Agrarian Reform, Science and Technology, Public Order and Safety, Trade, Investment and Tourism, Transportation and Communication (MOTC), Bangsamoro Women Commission (BWC), Bangsamoro Human Rights Commission (BHRC), and Bangsamoro Youth Commission (BYC), among others, will join the event.

Similar waves of convergent events are in the pipeline for the towns of Guindulungan and Barira in Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Special Geographic Area (SGA), Davao Region, Zamboangga Sibugay, and other nearby Bangsamoro communities, the BIO said. (AGM)