Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA)
Director General Joel Villanueva has said the passage and ratification of the
Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) would put the envisioned Bangsamoro region in a good
position to create and provide jobs for its citizens.
“We are seeing more jobs in the area once the security
situation in the region improves. And we expect that with the passage of the
basic law and the establishment of the Bangsamoro government,” Villanueva said.
“Stability in the region means more investments and more
businesses. We also expect to see more infrastructure projects like roads and
bridges with more government funding as outlined in the basic law,” he added.
Irene Isaac, TESDA Deputy Director General for Policies and
Planning, noted that aside from the expected improvement in peace and security,
the economic provisions of the BBL would help improve the economy of the
region. “These provisions will put the Bangsamoro in a good position to
jump-start job creation in the area, and TESDA will definitely be there to help
the Bangsamoro government equip the people for these jobs when they come."
TESDA was one of six government agencies that helped draw up
the socioeconomic development packages for the decommissioned combatants of the
Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Aside from stability, government peace panel member and
former Agriculture Secretary Senen Bacani said the economic provisions in the
BBL would also help Mindanao catch up with the country in terms of development,
and would even enable Mindanao to contribute to the Philippines
The ARMM has a poverty incidence of 48.7% as of 2012 and is
home to some of the poorest in the country. Studies attribute this
underdevelopment to the decades-long armed conflict as well as to the
incomplete devolution in the current regional government.
The BBL, the proposed charter for a new regional government
to replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), is pending review
and approval in both houses of Congress. It provides for a new political setup
and provisions that improve revenue- and wealth-sharing arrangements in order
for the regional government to be more effective in implementing socioeconomic
and development projects.
“If we look at the figures, we can see that government
spending per capita in the ARMM was below the national average from 2011 to
2013. It was even below the average for Mindanao ,”
Bacani said.
“The proposed BBL seeks to remedy this, through the
automatic appropriation of an annual block grant and additional sources of
revenues,” he said.
Bacani further explained that “If the region is peaceful,
which we expect it will be with the passage of the BBL, we will see improved
land use in Mindanao , especially in terms of
agricultural lands. Infrastructure will improve. Businesses will be able to
flourish. Our people will have better lives.”
“In the long run we see the Bangsamoro finally catching up
with Mindanao and the rest of the country, and we even expect the region to
finally contribute to the growth and the development of the Philippines
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=783733
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