Investors pour P1.5B into ARMM

COTABATO CITY, Philippines—The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) posted record-high investments of almost P1.5 billion in less than two months this year, a development that came as a surprise to the Regional Board of Investments (RBOI).

Officials attributed the investor confidence to the improvement in the law and order situation in Mindanao as a result of the initiatives of the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

“This is record-breaking for the ARMM,” said lawyer and RBOI Chair Ishak Mastura of the P1.451-billion worth of investments that came in for the first quarter of the year.

The amount is almost equal to the 2013 total investments that stood at P1.463 billion for the entire year, said Mastura.

“This is the first time that investments in the ARMM have reached more than a billion pesos in less than two months. With this trend, we expect to hit the P2-billion mark,” he said.

“It came in the wake of the signing in Kuala Lumpur last month of the Annex on Normalization, considered as the last annex to the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro between the government and the MILF,” he said.

Mastura said the new investors, who are local entrepreneurs that have registered with the RBOI, were Lamsan Power Corp., SR Languyan Mining Corp. and ABSCOR Multi-Trading Co. The three brought in a total of P1.451 billion in investments to the region.

More inquiries

“We are actually getting more inquiries about how to invest in the ARMM from local businessmen than the usual foreign companies,” Mastura said.

He also cited ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman’s massive reform and hands-on investment policy to lure investors and assure them of their security.

Lamsan Power Corp., based in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao, has embarked on a P921.56-million pioneer biomass renewable energy project that is expected to reduce the commercial power consumption of its corn starch operation.

Power reserves

The power plant will utilize rice hulls, corn husks, cobs and other agricultural waste from its own corn starch plant with a capacity of 15 megawatts.

This will also augment the power reserves of the National Power Corp. and the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines since the Lamsan power utility would sell 11.5-MW of energy to these power firms.

Hataman said the energy project would help ease power shortages being experienced in some areas of Mindanao.

“The power plant will become an important support facility that would encourage more businesses to flourish in the region,” he said.

Mining project

SR Languyan Mining Corp. agreed to pour in P520 million for a nickel ore mining project in Barangay (village) Darussalam, Languyan, Tawi-Tawi, with a yearly production capacity of one-million metric tons.

ABSCOR Multi-Trading Co. based in Port Holland, Maluso, Basilan, has invested in a P10-million import-export trading business that hopes to establish business deals with neighboring countries such as Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia all members of the East Asean Growth Area.

The three local companies are expected to employ around 1,122 workers, said Mastura.—Charlie C. Señase, Inquirer Mindanao