The Mindanao Examiner Regional Newspaper
ARMM holds Social Development Summit in Basilan
BASILAN – The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) held its first Social Development Summit in Basilan province to address issues at the local level and promote greater inclusion of the community in the decisionmaking process.
Last week’s summit brought together regional and local government officials including the Basilan governor, provincial board members, assemblymen, health officials, and teaching officials and their staff.
ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman led the summit with the region’s cabinet members namely the regional Vice-governor and concurrent Social Welfare and Development Secretary Haroun Alrashid Lucman Jr.; Health Secretary Dr. Kadil Jojo Sinolinding Jr., and Education Secretary Dr. John Magno.
“The summit is a consultation, a dialogue with our constituents; we listened to the issues and concerns raised by the participants in order to develop mechanisms for efficient delivery of government services,” Gov. Hataman said.
The main thematic issues discussed during the consultation were education, health, and livelihood. Problems with teachers’ appointments, promotions, lack of school buildings, the schools maintenance and other operating expenses, lack of health facilities and health services were raised by the participants.
“Dialogue is one of the best ways to resolve the problems. So, through this summit, the local officials as well as the stakeholders voiced out the issues and concerns affecting the residents in Basilan,” Mayor Arcam Istarul of Tipo-tipo said.
“We are happy that the regional government is open and willing to listen to its constituents in order to generate viable solutions; this shows the inclusiveness of the regional government and it helps build trust and understanding between sectors,” Mayor Istarul added.
Governor Hataman reiterated that the regional government will go down to the grassroots level to ensure the efficient delivery of the region’s projects and programs. The same consultation will also be conducted in the other provinces in the region.