ARMM Bill splitting Maguindanao into two provinces enacted

text ALI MACABALANG

The Regional Legislative Assembly (RLA) of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao has passed the bill creating a sixth province for ARMM in honor of the legendary Islamic missionary Shariff Kabungsuan.

Lawyer Paisalin Tago, regional speaker, told reporters Monday the 24-member RLA unanimously passed in a marathon session Friday ARMM Bill No. 45 splitting Maguindanao into two provinces in what he described as a response to an inferred "popular clamor" from Maguindanaons.

Under the new local edict, Maguindanao will retain its name and cover the present province’s second Congressional district composed of 19 towns with Shariff Aguak still its capital site, while Shariff Kabungsuan will constitute the existing nine towns in Maguindanao’s first distirct.

The legislation of Bill No. 45 has passed through thorough processes including a series of field hearings and studies ensuring that the new province would meet the legal standards on population, area, revenues and etc., Tago pointed out.

In fact, Tago said, the towns constituting Shariff Kabungsuan are posting bigger revenues than those of Maguindanao’s second district because the former area has wood, textile and starch factories.

The Cotabato airport and international seaport are also located in the new province, he added. Tago said the creation of Shariff Kabungsuan province is also a "pet project" of Maguindanao Gov. Datu Andal Ampatuan, father of incumbent ARMM Gov. Zaldy Uy Ampatuan.

It likewise honors Shariff Kabungsuan, the Islamic missionary who helped propagate Islam in the Philippines through the south, he said.

According to the RLA speaker, arrangements were underway for the ARMM chief executive to sign into law the new legislative measure this week.

Upon its signing into law, the measure would entail the Commission on Elections to hold a plebiscite for Maguindanao’s over 300,000 voters to approve or reject it.

This early, however, ARMM Governor Ampatuan has predicted a popular approval of the creation of Shariff Kabungsuan because it would provide all advantages to them in terms of faster government service delivery, program implementation and greener economic activities.

Shariff Kabungsuan stands to ve ARMM’s sixth component province. The region is now covering Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Sulu, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi provinces and the city of Marawi. (ZS)