ARMM law scraps district impact funds

MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur, July 5 (PIA) -- Lawmakers of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) will effectively waive their powers over the region’s version of “pork barrel,” a privilege of allocating funds for pet projects among members of Congress in the national government. 

ARMM officer-in-charge Governor Mujiv Hataman met all 24 members of the Regional Legislative Assembly (RLA) last Tuesday when he signed into law the Muslim Mindanao Act 229 or the region’s Public Works Act. 

Hataman said the law scraps district impact funds (DIP), the uses of which were normally left to full discretion of RLA members, and were said to be a huge source of corruption, just like its national counterpart, the Priority Development Fund to some members of Congress. 

MMA 229 provides for the utilization of the P2-billion infrastructure fund program that the national government annually transfers to the ARMM, as required under Republic Act 9054, the Expanded Autonomy Act that serves as the region’s charter. 

The DIP provision in the annually passed regional public works law has been adopted by all past administrations since 1993, he said. 

Instead of the regional lawmakers determining their districts’ priority projects, community needs for infrastructure programs and projects were established based on assessment and evaluation made by the ARMM public works department, the local civil society organizations (CSOs), and people’s organizations as well as the local government units (LGUs), Hataman said. 

“The bidding process will be made open to the public, with representative observers from the civil society and media. We will also determine if some LGUs are capable of implementing their own infrastructure projects on a localized bidding process, or by administration, if they have the necessary equipment, or with the help of the Army Engineering Battalion in some cases,” he added. 


Women Sector Assemblyperson Samira Gutoc-Tomawis said it would be most welcome for the Filipino people for members of Congress to also waive their privilege over PDF provisions of the national budget, under the annual General Appropriations Act.