MINDANAO DAILY We innovate... and we lead!
Volume VIII, No. 250
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S ince
1923
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Friday, March 22, 2019
Agro-economic zones eyed in three Mindanao regions D
By ANTONIO L. COLINA IV, MindaNews
AVAO City--The government is looking for investors for seven big-ticket agro-economic zones in three regions in Mindanao through a public-private partnership scheme, Joan Barrera, division chief of the Project Development Division of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA), said.
Speaking during “Wednesdays at Habi at Kape,” Barrera told reporters they have already completed the conceptual framework for the agro-economic zones, which are among the catalytic programs of MinDA. She said they plan to locate the projects in Basilan, Lanao del Sur, and Maguindanao in the Bangsamoro NO TO ANOTHER MILITARY CAMP. Students attending a rally in Marawi Region; Agusan del Sur in City on Wednesday (20 March 2019) show their protest on the construction of a new Caraga Region; and Zambomilitary camp in the city. MindaNews photo by Froilan Gallardo anga del Norte, Zamboanga
del Sur and Zamboanga Sibugay in the Zamboanga Peninsula. She said the agro-economic zone model “adopts an integrated area development approach” in that the manufacturing areas located in the economic zones will be supported by nearby agro trading centers, which will consolidate the products needed for manufacturing. “It will also be supported by an infrastructure that will connect the production
areas, up to the agro-trading centers, up to agro-economic zone, so it’s an integrated area development,” she said. She said the provinces will decide on the location of the agro-economic zones. Lamitan City in Basilan has 25 hectares for the agroeconomic zone; Picong in Lanao del Sur 25 ha; Buluan in Maguindanao 35 ha; Bayugan City in Agusan del Sur 45 ha; Irasan, Roxas in Zamboanga del Norte See REGIONS, page 11
Displaced Marawi City residents stage rally to demand return to ruined homes By Froilan Gallardo MindaNews
MARAWI City--Desperate residents of the Islamic City of Marawi City demanded a return to their ruined homes, two years after ISIS-linked militants were defeated by government troops in 2017. More than 200 residents and students staged a rally in the city park airing their plight of living in tents and temporary shelters for more than two years. They later marched to the provincial capitol, two kilometers away, to press members of the House Subcommittee on Marawi Rehabilitation to conduct an investigation on Task Force Bangon Marawi, the lead government agency for the Marawi rehabilitation. “It is not easy to live in a tent with five children. It is hot and the tent is small for us,” Marawi resident Farina Pagazad said. Pagazad said they have lived in an evacuation village, designated by government agencies as “Blue Tent,” since they were driven away from her house in downtown Marawi in 2017. She said she used to have a sari-sari store, a small computer store, and “a good life for a See STAGE, page 11
DEVASTATED MARAWI. A tricycle plies a street of empty, destroyed buildings in Sector 1, Barangay Mapandi, Marawi City
on Tuesday (19 March 2019). Most of the commercial and downtown areas of Marawi City are still off limits to residents who have been staying in tents and temporary shelters for almost two years since the siege by ISIS-linked gunmen in May 2017. MindaNews photo by Froilan Gallardo
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