MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur, April 20 (PIA) --- A plan to set up a satellite structure of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in the province of Basilan to oversee the island-components of the region is now underway.
The announcement was made by Officer-in-charge (OIC) Governor Mujiv Hataman in his first “Ulat sa Bayan” on Monday, a report of the initial gains in the first 100 days of his administration’s ARMM reform agenda and the policies that have been put in place.
Hataman said the plan is meant to “bring ARMM governance closer to the people of the island provinces.”
ARMM constituents in the provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi often feel alienated from the region’s seat in Cotabato City.
The satellite structure will be headed by former Sulu Governor Yusoph Jikiri, who is presently the chief-of-staff of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), and will be installed in the island province of Basilan, according to Hataman.
The acting ARMM governor dismissed the notion that his administration does not confer with the MNLF in going about its reform agenda.
He said the would-be appointment of Jikiri proves that the MNLF are practically onboard his goal to change and straighten out the system in ARMM.
The satellite structure, he said, will allow the ARMM government to provide similar attention to security and development issues in all the five component provinces of the region.
Apart from bringing government closer to its people, Hataman also underscored today that the interim ARMM administration takes full commitment to open governance, welcoming citizens from anywhere in the country or the world by means of its newly-designed web portal to monitor the workings and transactions in the autonomous government for the first time.
ARMM also has a standing social contract with its constituents as represented by various civil society groups across the region.
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