Beneficiaries, BARMM officials, and other guests gathered in front of the housing units in the Special Geographic Area (SGA) in Pigcawayan town to witness the recent project's inauguration. The Ministry of Human Settlements and Development (MHSD-BARMM) built the houses for its deserving beneficiaries, drawing inspiration from the national government's Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino (4PH) under President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s Bagong Pilipinas program. (Photo courtesy of MHSD-BARMM)
COTABATO CITY (PIA) -- The Bangsamoro government, through its Ministry of Human Settlements and Development (MHSD-BARMM), has continued to strengthen its contribution to the Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino (4PH) under President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s Bagong Pilipinas program.
Similar to the 4PH’s goal of providing affordable and decent houses to the poor and marginalized sector, MHSD’s housing program also aims to provide decent housing units to the underprivileged, homeless citizens, and former Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) combatants, among other sectors in the region.
Just like any other place in the country, families in many areas of the Bangsamoro region often encounter numerous challenges in accessing safe and affordable housing.
Hence, in June 2023, a total of 50 beneficiaries, who are families of former combatants and victims of calamities from the region’s special geographic area (SGA) in Cotabato Province, received permanent housing units from MHSD.
Former MILF combatant Abdulkadir Zailon Alon expressed his deepest gratitude for being chosen as one of the beneficiaries of the housing project, promising to take good care of the unit he received from the government through BARMM's Ministry of Human Settlements and Development. (Photo curtesy of MHSD-BARMM)
“Samaya na kagedam nami i tidtu tidto i kapyanan nu Bangsamoro government siya sa kanu inged tanu. Panginsukuren kami sa masla sa BARMM sa kanu kapapedtalaguy nin sa gobyerno kagina madakel den i kagedam tanu a mapia a nakanggulalan nin [We now feel the genuine goodness of the Bangsamoro Government in our place; we greatly thank the BARMM for its governance because we have noticed and felt many interventions they have already extended],” said beneficiary Abdulkadir Zailon Alon, speaking in vernacular Maguindanaon.
According to him, in his years of residing in the village, he has never witnessed any housing project implemented in the area until the establishment of BARMM.
Alon said that most of the beneficiaries have lost their parents and spouses in the struggle for justice in Bangsamoro and have been residing with their family members, crowding in a dilapidated house with damaged and leaking roofs filled with rainwater.
The housing units, complete with three bedrooms, one comfort room, a living area, a kitchen, and a dining area, had a project cost of P28,722,864.
It was funded from the Special Development Fund (SDF) of the BARMM government, as spelled out among the provisions under the national government's Republic Act 11054, or the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL).
MHSD Minister Hamid Aminoddin Barra addressed the beneficiaries, local officials, and guests during the turnover of the housing project in BARMM's Special Geographic Area in Pigcawayan town. He said the housing village shall be called "Darussalam," which means "abode of peace," to symbolize the presence of peace and harmony among people who feel it. (Photo courtesy of MHSD-BARMM)
MHSD Minister Hamid Aminoddin Barra explained that the project symbolizes the ministry’s dedication to the preservation of peace and support for the efforts of BARMM Chief Minister Ahod Balawag Ebrahim and President Marcos Jr.
“We are rebuilding peace by [re]building houses; this is our practical expression of what the Chief Minister told us, ‘Moral Governance’, and this is also how we express our accountability not only to the Bangsamoro Government but to the people, the mujahideen [Islamic fighters] who sacrificed their lives, and to the Philippine government,” he pointed out.
Barra also noted the challenges faced by the beneficiaries that became the driving force of the ministry in providing quality housing units to poor families, aligning with the national government’s 4PH’s goal of building houses that are close to the essential facilities required for a more productive lifestyle.
Reaffirming the ministry commitment, the official said that MSSD will continue to provide more housing projects as a symbol of hope and progress for disadvantaged families, anchored on the flagship program of the Marcos administration, which is the 4PH.
Based on Memorandum Circular No. 2023-002 of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD), the 4PH program “aims to service the housing needs of the country, currently estimated to exceed six and a half million,[b]y targeting to construct one million housing units per year for the next six years." (LTB – PIA Cotabato City)
