Wish list for ARMM in 2012...

The new OIC Governor of the Autonomous Region in Mindanao is asking his constituents and friends what their wish list is under his watch (18 months or so), until his successor is duly elected and qualified in the May 2013 mid-term elections. Gov. Hataman is no stranger to what ails the ARMM. The series of round-table discussions on the ARMM during the debates on elections and on PNoy’s desire to reform the ARMM tell a sad story of failures not only in self-governance but also in delivering basic services to its constituency. Under the platform of “Reform the ARMM,” a new law has been enacted, RA 10153. This, in many ways, pavesthe way both for the appointment of OICs and the formulation of a road map that serves as an “emergency intervention” to re-vitalize the ARMM asa vehicle of real self-governance and development. A “stimulus package” worth 8.5 billion pesos has been allocated over and above the yearly budgetary allocation of about 13 billion. The President has his own “Wish List” as articulated in various forums. Basically the President’s wish list constitutes the ‘raison d’etre’ for the passage of RA 10153. They consist of the following: Put an end to the rule of political families that have fostered a culture of electoral frauds; Abolish private armies; Implement the road map for reforms and direct it toward true peace and progress; Clean up the voters’ list and modernize the elections; Strengthen alliances with civil society groups; and Do not allow any form of corruption. Poststorm Sendong, there is the urgent call for political will to implement the total log ban in the ARMM.  The tragedy provides an opportunity for the new ARMM leadership to review, re-assess and STOP all existing TLA, IFMA and all sorts of tree-cutting in the mountains of Lanao Sur and Maguindanao.  This requires real political will and hopefully the new governor, young and energetic as he is, can muster enough courage to stop all logging within the ARMM in his first 100 days! But stopping the cutting of trees is good but not good enough! The new governor needs to order DENR to take the lead in themassive re-forestation of the said two provinces and publish the accomplishment (monitored by independent CSO) after 100 days in office, beginning with all the watersheds in the areas. The next urgent thing is the rehab of the portions of the national highways in Pagalungan and Datu Montawal and the portion in Buluan and Datu Paglas within the first hundred days! The commuters, on a daily basis, cannot help but curse the ARMM government for this utter neglect! While all the surrounding portions of the national highways in North Cotabato, Davao Sur, Sultan Kudarat and South Cotabato are under complete rehab, the ARMM portions are completely abandoned. Some claim that the abandonment of the rehab of the said portions of national highways is due to “demands” on the contractors by every honcho in the areas covered by the construction. What can the LGUs do in this case?  Can they stop this highway robbery or simply allow the complete disrepair of those portions to show to all and sundry the real “kalakaran”in the areas of the ARMM? 
 Then there is the perennial complaint of ARMM employees and public school teachers for their unpaid back wages and all arrear remittances to the GSIS. Can the new governor accomplish this seeming Gordian knot within his first 100 days? He needs also to purge all the GHOSTS from the list of employees, staff, and schoolteachers.  Teachers’ ‘plantillas’ belong to specific schools. The Governor should stop ASAP the practice of “detailing” teachers to offices and private homes of politicians.  They belong in classrooms! No doubt, with a stimulus package worth 8.5 billion, the new governor can do something to rehab and equip all existing school building and health facilities in the ARMM. It would be a refreshing wind blowing the ARMM way, if the constituency can see standard schools and health facilities in their locality with real teachers and nurses. For the next 18 months, the DA should double their target of agricultural production and rehabilitate existing major irrigation systems and the farm-to-market roads.  Similarly, the DAR should intensify not only the implementation of land reform in the ARMM but also the organization of agrarian reform communities among tillers. A target that will take some time, Gov. Hataman must begin to dismantle politicians’ “militias” (which are often under the guise of CVOs, police auxiliaries, cafgus, etc.) and implement a no-nonsense gun ban in all the five provinces and two cities of the ARMM. 
Abangan!