Zamboanga, ARMM all praises for President Aquino

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Mayor Beng Climaco has praised the State of the Nation Address of President Aquino’s his last before he steps down next year. 

Climaco said she remains thankful to Aquino for his continued support for Zamboanga City, especially in the recovery and rehabilitation efforts and all other assistance given by the national government following the September 2013 rebel siege here. 

“I am very thankful that we have a President who has been very supportive of our needs in Zamboanga City,” Climaco said. 

She said her satisfaction on Aquino’s six-year presidency was based on happiness of the people who have directly benefitted from the President’s assistance, especially those displaced by the siege. 

“When I saw the temporary shelters in (the village of) Kasanyangan, I saw how the IDPs lives were being developed,” Climaco said. “Not only that, President Aquino and his entire team never left us since the siege, and even assigned four cabinet secretaries to take charge and supervise the recovery and rehabilitation efforts in Zamboanga.” 

Moro National Liberation Front rebels under Nur Misuari raided Zamboanga and attacked innocent civilians and sparking three weeks of house-to-house fighting that displaced over 120,000 people. 

Climaco said Aquino continues to extend assistance to Zamboanga and its people through job generation, skills training and livelihood programs, among others. 

Aquino’s delivered his last State of the Nation Address on July 27. 

ARMM 

Gov. Mujiv Hataman, of the Muslim autonomous region, said the Aquino administration will be remembered for its good governance and for how it accomplished reforms. 

He said from that, the autonomous region took inspiration - pursuing its own agenda of good governance that shattered well-entrenched and deeply-rooted practices of corruption and inept systems that took a toll on the development of the 5 provinces under it. 

“We are greatly indebted to the Aquino administration for the overwhelming support that emanated from its trust and confidence that we can stir positive change and ignite sustainable development in the region. Needless to say, the regional government is one of the strongest testaments to the president’s commitment in keeping his promise to lead us along the straight path – the Tuwid na Daan,” Hataman said. 

Hataman said with Aquino’s reforms, the region saw the influx of investments and the business sector continues to maintain a keen interest in the area. “Economic investments are at an all-time high, funding for infrastructure especially in connecting the island provinces to the mainland have been approved, and renewed support for the agricultural sector has been felt by our farmers and fisher folk across the region. The translation of these investments, apart from better regional economic figures and development statistics, is a better life for our people,” he said. 

He also cited Aquino’s peace efforts in Mindanao. “Our greatest investment towards the life we wish for ourselves and our children is our joint commitment in the peace negotiations. No other administration has dared to give all-out support to the peace process between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. No other administration has shown its all-out support to the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law – believing that it will make the lives of the Moro people better as it will keep Mindanao more competitive, more attractive to investors, more peaceful and secured,” Hataman said. 

“Our dream is for the next government to continue what we have started; to sustain the reforms we have worked so hard for, and to provide us with opportunities to chart our own path as people of the Bangsamoro. As the Aquino administration draws to a close, we remember our humble beginnings as a region that has struggled for decades.  We remember the challenges we have faced and how through the smallest of victories, we have built strong foundations that became our doors for greater triumphs. But what we will remember most of all is how this administration has dared to do what no other administration has — to fight for peace, to support those who have fought for peace, and to commit itself to the fight until it arrives at the only acceptable resolution: truth, justice and peace,” he added. 

Hailed 

Aquino also hailed Hataman on his role in achieving the ‘Tuwid na Daan’ thrust of the administration. In his address, Aquino underscored the progress and reforms in the ARMM emphasizing on Hataman’s assistance in attaining his administration’s objectives. 

Aquino said that despite not being an official member of the Cabinet, Hataman did “his part to help the administration’s progress along the straight and righteous path.”

The President cited the completion of the region's cadastral survey, which started in 1913. “It took almost a century to complete (the first) 46% of the survey,” Aquino said. 

The survey identifies the boundaries of the land covered by each city, municipality, and province in the Philippines. 

Hataman said the region is greatly indebted to the Aquino administration for its overwhelming support. He further said that the administration’s “trust and confidence stir positive change and ignite sustainable development in the region.” 

In 2013, Hataman has been tagged as a “ghost buster” after he got rid of ghost employees in different agencies as well as ghost teachers and students in far-flung areas in the region. A total of 75,242 ghost students and 21,374 ghost enrolees were deleted from the records of the Department of Education-ARMM between 2012 and 2013. 

After more than two decades, teachers in the region have started receiving benefits from their contributions to the Government Service Insurance System. This came about after the regional government settled at least P891.4 million worth of unpaid premiums in previous years. 

As part of good governance drive, the region’s portals were opened to the public allowing its constituents to access the latest reports on accountability, revenue, fund utilization, and project implementation status. 

During the Hataman administration, the investment climate has been vibrant and the region has surpassed its yearly target. As of date, the Regional Board of Investments has recorded P1.8 billion in new private capital flowing in for 2015. 

Recently, the region has passed the National Government’s Good Governance Conditions reflecting “a revitalized and reformed autonomous region.” This compliance was the first in the region’s history.  

The Hataman administration anchored its reform initiatives on three key pillars: good governance, peace and security, and socioeconomic development. 

But for the Human Rights Watch, it said Aquino has miserably failed to even discuss the Philippines’ many pressing human rights problems in his speech. “It is so troubling,” it said, adding, “but, perhaps unsurprisingly, Aquino barely touched on any of the serious human rights problems his administration has largely ignored since he took office in 2010. That omission adds insult to injury to the many victims of the government’s failure to adequately grapple with those issues.” 

The Human Rights Watch said Aquino won the 2010 election on a political platform that included explicit human rights commitments and a promise to tackle the lack of accountability for the military and police. It said unless Aquino finds his voice on human rights as he begins his last year in office ahead of the next presidential election in May 2016, those promises may remain empty rhetoric. (Mindanao Examiner)

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