1Bangsa NGO supports ‘Balik Probinsiya’

COTABATO CITY: Moro organization One Bangsamoro Movement Inc. ( 1Bangsa) in an open letter addressed to Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go expressed its full support to the Balik Probinsiya, Bagong Pag- asa ( BP2) Program of the senator, who himself is a probinsiyano ( town native) from Davao City.

Maulana Alan Balangi- Amer, national president of 1Bangsa who hails from Marawi City, said in the open letter, “We would like to extend our support to your vision the Balik Probinsiya Program, which was signed by President Rodrigo Duterte into Executive Order 114 series of 2020 or ‘ Institutionalizing Balik Probinsiya, Bagong Pag- asa.’”

Balangi-Amer also told Senator

Go, “Your metaphor on the program surmises the visualization of 17 regions in the country comprising the economic equilibrium from the national insight.”

As the country reels from the coronavirus pandemic and residents are encouraged to go back to their home provinces, the BP2 is the needed backup plan for those who want to do so, he said.

1Bangsa said it was optimistic of the outcome of BP2 since there were many residents of Mindanao who have resettled in Metro Manila or elsewhere in Luzon because of the Mindanao conflict.

Balangi-Amer noted that Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao or BARMM, covers the poorest provinces in the country. But the region also covers a large volume of untapped natural and agricultural resources.

In another development, Alan-Balangi also called for the creation and establishment of an office that would supervise the development of Lake Lanao in Marawi City as discussed in the 18th Congress last year.

He said the largest lake in Mindanao produced 65 percent of electrical power throughout Mindanao and could provide agricultural livelihood for residents.