Barmm prioritizes former ‘shahids’ in housing project in special area
DAVAO CITY—THE Bangsamoro government has prioritized in its housing projects the families of “shahids” former Moro combatants who died in armed battles against the government.
The Bangsamoro Information Office said the Ministry of Human Settlements and Development (MHSD), the housing arm of the Bangsamoro government, has two projects in the barangays of Midsayap, North Cotabato, both of which now belonged to the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
The information office said the so-called martyrs of war, or those who either fought with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) or its breakaway faction, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), would be considered as beneficiaries in the housing resettlement project of the MHSD.
The MHSD has constructed since November 50 housing units in Barangay Nabalawag and another 50 units in Barangay Kapinpilan, both in the Midsayap town cluster of Barmm’s Special Geographic Area (SGA).
MHSD Director General Esmael Ebrahim said during the groundbreaking ceremony last November 30 that the families of the late mujahideen, or fighters, in the area “who have been deprived of decent shelters over the years will be prioritized as beneficiaries.”
“The beneficiaries would be profiled with assistance from the local government units (LGUS) and will be selected based on strict guidelines to ensure that title, land and house would be given to the most qualified and in need,” Ebrahim said.
The MHSD housing projects were funded under the General Appropriations Act of the Bangsamoro (GA AB) 2022, Chief of Planning and Design Division Zainodin Buisan said. Buisan, an engineer, unveiled the housing design as a one-storey residential building with a 49-square meter f loor area and two bedrooms.
As of last month, the MHSD has 250 housing units under construction in the SGA.
The SGA are the 67 barangays of several North Cotabato towns with dominant Moro population who opted to be included in the Barmm. The residents voted for inclusion during the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) in 2019. The SGA was also noted for the periodic displacement of residents due to sporadic armed conflict between MNLF or MILF fighters and government soldiers in the 1970s and 1980s.
Member of the Parliament Mohammad Kelie Antao, a staunch peace advocate and former administrator of SGA, identified MHSD’S Resettlement Project as “one of these necessities of the Bangsamoro.”
“Di nengka ma aden so peace umengka seka mismo na dikena peaceful e mind nengka,” Antao said in the Maguindanaon dialect on a Facebook post. [You can’t have peace if you don’t have a peaceful mind].