Zambo Sibugay Road Project Expected To Bring Development, Peace

It is just a two-kilometer farm-to-market road, but for the rural barrio’s Muslim and indigenous farmers it will go a long, long way to improve their economic and social welfare.

The completed road in Barangay Datu Tumanggong, Tungawan Municipality, Zamboanga Sibugay Province, was formally turned over to community chairman Salam Lanuan by the district office of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), six months after it was started.

It was funded by‎ the Department of Agriculture (DA) under the Sajahatra Bangsamoro Program administered by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP). The program was set up by President Benigno S. Aquino III and the leadership of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in 2013 to rehabilitate and develop Bangsamoro communities in Mindanao, especially those adversely affected by communal and political conflict.

“Malaki ang pasasalamat namin sa national government, kay [MILF chairman] Al Haj Murad [Ebrahim], [GPH] negotiating panel chair Miriam Ferrer and [MILF Panel Chair] Sir Mohagher Iqbal dahil napili ang Barangay Datu Tumanggong, Tungawan,” said Barahama Alih, MILF’s base commander. “Ngayon po yung mga bumibili ng produkto namin di na nila bibilhin ng mura yung mga produkto namin; di na nila sasabihin na dahil malaki ang gastos sa piyesa at gasoline or dahil lubak lubak ang daan, kaya mababa ang bili nila sa produkto namin.”

Alih’s barangay is one of the 10 communities selected under the small-scale infrastructure program of the DA where farm-to-market roads would be constructed under the Sajahatra Bangsamoro Program. Construction was done by the Engineering District of the DPWH provincial office in Zamboanga Sibugay.

“Kami po ay lubos na nagpapasalamat lalo na ang mga constituents natin dito sa Barangay Datu Tumanggong dahil po sa programang ito nagkaroon po ng pansamantalang trabaho ang mga tao dito, kaya po ang gusto nila ay madagdagan pa ang ganitong programa,” Barangay Chairman Salam Lanuan.

Tungawan and its surrounding environs comprise one of the military strongholds in Mindanao of the MILF. The area is culturally and geographically proximate to the Lanao provinces, which in turn is adjacent to the central bases of the rebel front.

“Salamat po sa pagtanggap sa prosesong pinagdadaanan natin. Bawat isa po sa atin ay may karapatang maramdaman ang gains ng peace process at nagpapasalamat po kami sa tulong ninyong lahat at sa pagtanggap sa Sajahatra Bangsamoro Program,” said Hadzer M. Birowa, director of the Sajahatra program’s Socio-Economic Unit.

The government in coordination with the MILF continues to implement Sajahatra projects throughout Mindanao under the roadmap established by the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB). (OPAPP)