BTA bill seeks to create a resettlement, rehabilitation framework action plan for IDPs

COTABATO CITY— A bill was introduced in the second regular session and entered on first reading; it outlines the guiding principles for the Rehabilitation Action Plan and the Livelihood Restoration Plan.

To ensure that the assistance given to IDPs is consistent and effective, Parliament Bill No. 141 mandates that national and Bangsamoro government agencies expropriate and leverage on unused governmentproclaimed resettlement areas, as well as assets and other public lands. These areas will be converted into primary growth centers.

The growth center will serve as the regional hub for IDP rehabilitation and resettlement projects and activities.

Issues of social integration, livelihood rehabilitation, and economic empowerment, with a focus on the needs and capacities of conflict-affected and economically displaced communities, will be given special consideration.

“Our government has the primary responsibility to ensure that IDPs’ basic rights to food, water, shelter, dignity, and safety are met in addition to facilitating their access to all other rights,” said MP Ali Sangki, the main author of the proposed bill.

He clarified that if conditions for long-term solutions are not created, conditions for security, property restoration, and resettlement of internally displaced people cannot be realized.

Data showed in his explanatory note that since 1969, there has been an ongoing conflict in Mindanao, which has resulted in significant infrastructure and housing destruction as well as massive displacement.

According to the Bangsamoro Organic Law, the Parliament shall pass a law creating a housing and human settlements agency to address the lack of shelters, settlements, and livelihoods for the disadvantaged and homeless, especially those victims of conflict and atrocities.

The proposed bill will encourage rural development by providing IDPs and communities afflicted by conflict with new land.

Once passed, a Resettlement and Rehabilitation Development Council, attached to the Ministry of Human Settlement, will be established to conduct a full status assessment of all resettlement areas enumerated in the bill and execute all possible legal remedies and procedures within its power and mandate to expropriate as far as it is necessary and repossess or reacquire all the subject settlement areas.

Bangsamoro legislators seek to strengthen Madaris education in the region

COTABATO CITY— “We, in the government, should take serious steps in considering madrasah education as an important part of education, not just a source of basic Islamic education but a source of inspiration for realworld advancements,” said Member of the Parliament Jaafar Apollo Mikhail Matalam when he introduced Parliament Bill No. 142.

The proposed bill would create a funding scheme for Madaris educational system in an effort to improve the quality of education available to Muslim students in the region.

The authors of the proposed bill, MPs Jaafar Apollo Mikhail Matalam, Rasul Ismael, and Eddie Alih, recognized the challenges faced by the Madaris in the region, noting that “up to date, many private Madaris are still located in poor communities and are woefully ill-equipped in terms of social facilities, books, teaching or learning devices, and some teachers are not afforded a consistent salary.”

Under the proposed measure, a fund system for Madaris will be established for the development of Madaris’ facilities, scholarship grants, teacher development programs, and accreditation of private madrasah. Subsidies and other incentives will be made available to deserving grantees, with a focus on the economically disadvantaged.

The Ministry of Basic, Higher, and Technical Education will mandate a mechanism to boost madrasah standards and expand access to the system for more Muslim students.

Once approved, an amount of P10 million will be allotted and charged to the current appropriations of MBHTE’s Madaris Bureau.

Programs and assistance for teachers and students in Madaris include nutrition and feeding programs for young children; classroom facilities; textbook assistance funds; in-service training funds for teachers; scholarship grants for the teachers’ children; scholarship grants to qualified students; funding for trainings and seminars of Arabic Language and Islamic Values Education (ALIVE) teachers; increases in ALIVE teachers’ salaries; funding for Madaris registration and accreditation; and madrasah infrastructure development.

The authors of PB No. 142 further stated that it is important to reinforce all Madaris in the Bangsamoro region by giving additional educational funds, which will be a key element in the operational improvement of its educational quality.

MPs Michael Midtimbang, Denmartin Kahalan, Atty. Suharto Ambolodto, Dr. Susana Anayatin, Abdulazis Amenodin, Abdullah Macapaar, Diamila Disimban-Ramos, Akmad Abas, Dr. Hashemi Dilangalen, Mohammad Kelie Antao, Tawakal Midtimbang, Ali Sangki, Alimontaha Babao, Amroussi Macatanong, and Basit Abbas are also co-authors of the proposed measure.