The Department of Finance (DOF) has extended its assistance to the new Bangsamoro government in tapping funding sources for a plan to provide stable and affordable supply of electric power to the autonomous region’s underserved island-provinces, as part of ongoing government efforts to open livelihood opportunities, attract investments and create more jobs in these areas.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III discussed during his meeting last week with Chief Minister Al Hajj Murad Ibrahim of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) and other BARMM officials a plan to involve the private sector and explore overseas funding from Islamic countries in the Middle East to implement the electrification program in the region’s remote provinces and towns.
“This is an opportunity for (the Middle Eastern countries) to assist in providing funding for infrastructure projects in the BARMM area,” Dominguez told Murad and the other BARMM officials present at the meeting at the DOF office in Manila. “Power generation is crucial to you especially in the island-communities and some communities that are off the (power) grid.”
BARMM Ministers Naguib Sinarimbo of the Ministry of the Interior and Local Government and Eduard Guerra of the Ministry of Finance, Budget and Management; and other officials of the Bangsamoro government were also at the meeting held last Thursday (Aug.8).
Dominguez has committed to assist BARMM in setting up its new government, especially in handling its fiscal affairs during an earlier meeting with Guerra.
In a letter to Dominguez, Guerra said their first meeting “was definitely a good start for a genuine partnership with your office in achieving the goals of peace and development in the Bangsamoro autonomous region.”
“We sincerely recognize the warm welcome, and we could not thank you enough for giving us the opportunity to discuss initially fiscal matters and ways to move forward,” Guerra said in his letter.
During the meeting with Murad at the DOF office, Dominguez also broached the possibility of approaching the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) and other state lending institutions to help finance BARMM’s electrification program.
Murad, in response, said that providing electricity “is one of our big challenges because in many areas, we don’t have power sources.”
He agreed with Dominguez that partnering with the private sector would be one way to resolve the lack of power supply in BARMM’s farflung communities.
At the meeting were representatives of Powersource Philippines, led by its chairman Aloysius Colayco, who, in turn, proposed the use of renewable energy sources, such as stand-alone microgrids as a solution to BARMM’s power supply problems in its remote communities.
The BARMM officials welcomed the proposal and suggested that the electrification program start in the provinces of Basilan, Tawi-Tawi and Sulu and Bongo Island in Cotabato City.
Murad said Powersource can discuss its proposal with the BARMM Department of Environment, Natural Resource and Energy.
Guerra and Sinarimbo suggested that an inventory and ocular inspection be conducted to determine what areas of the BARMM are unserved and underserved in terms of power supply.
Sinarimbo pointed out for instance, that with an affordable supply of electric power, Basilan can expand the economic potentials of its production of rubber and coconut. “As of now, they cannot process these products because electricity is very expensive,” he said.
He also said that BARMM will study ways to cut red tape and simplify the processing of permits for potential investors like Powersource to speed up the implementation of the electrification program, after Colayco pointed out that it takes around 146 permits for every area before his firm can set up micro grids.
During the meeting, Dominguez told the BARMM officials that they can consider the DOF office as “also your Manila office.”
“We welcome you here,” Dominguez told the BARMM delegation.
The BARMM consists of the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu, Tawi- tawi, and the cities of Cotabato, Marawi and Lamitan, and 63 barangays in six North Cotabato towns.
Dominguez has directed key DOF officials led by Undersecretary Gil Beltran to guide executives of the new Bangsamoro government in running their finance and budget departments as well as in crafting sound policies and implementing effective revenue-generating measures to ensure the long-term fiscal stability of this new autonomous region in Mindanao.
The Finance Chief also directed Beltran to tap the Philippine Tax Academy (PTA) to help educate the new set of government officials of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) on fiscal management, financial planning and budget-related matters.
The DOF co-chairs with the BARMM minister of budget, finance and management the Intergovernmental Fiscal Policy Board (IGBF), which is designed to address revenue imbalances and fluctuations in the regional financial needs and revenue-raising capacity of the BARMM government.
Guerra, on his part, pointed out in his letter that “the (DOF’s) initiative and efforts to convene the IFPB and engaging other departments’ and offices’ participation are proof of your commitment, which adds to our enthusiasm and motivation to work with your department, and in a way, a gesture of belief in our dedication and capacity to good and moral governance.”
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