Piñol: BARMM needs P1T in next 10 years

The government will need to invest about P1 trillion in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) over the next decade if it’s keen to bring peace and development in the strife-torn region, according to the incoming head of the Mindanao Development Authority, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol.

The secretary presented his “rough mental computation” on his Facebook page Saturday after farmers, fisherfolk, government planners and representatives of people’s organizations under BARMM held a workshop to chart plans for the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Sulu, Maguindanao, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi and Cotabato.

“Even our budget planners would probably back off and say … that’s a lot of money to be spent for one region of five provinces … Believe me, if we compare the numbers, we will all realize that waging a war is more expensive than building peace,” he added.

The figure thrown by Piñol is almost a quarter of the P4.2-trillion proposed national funding of the Department of Budget and Management for next year. This would mean injecting P100 billion to BARMM annually, or P20 billion for each province.

The 10-year agriculture plan for BARMM is aimed at increasing food production and decreasing poverty incidence in the area. Piñol said it would focus on identifying critical infrastructure services, addressing chronic poverty, facilitating the titling of lands to end clan wars and ensuring that the region would be self-reliant in terms of food.