PARANG, Maguindanao - Extensive efforts to fully open the Polloc Freeport to national and foreign vessels have gained another momentum with the recent completion and opening of its P20 million water supply system, authorities announced Tuesday.
Officials of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) formally inaugurated the water project at the Freeport terminal in Barangay Polloc here on recently, Port Administrator Moharrim Mohammad said.
"As we completed and opened the water supply system, we see more opportunities and facilities to follow suit at our Freeport and enable us to meet other requirements needed for our full operation," Mohammad said.
He said the Freeport is the "showcase" of the six-month-old administration of ARMM acting Gov. Ansaruddin Alonto-Adiong in the intensified campaign to bring the autonomous region to greater heights.
For his part, ARMM Executive Secretary Naguib Sinarimbo said the Adiong administration has rigorously sourced out P20 million for the construction of the project that started two months ago and its completion was a "breakthrough" in the setting up of facilities for infrastructure and economic investments in the region.
Sinarimbo, who represented Adiong in the ceremonies, called on concerned people and groups to support the Freeport facility as a vital instrument to improve the economy of the 20-year-old region, which comprises five provinces and two cities.
"Let us shift from our mindset that our community would perennially lag behind its counterparts in this country. Of course, we can make the difference if we only unite and put our acts together the way we restored the Polloc Port in its operational stature and transformed it to a Freeport," Sinarimbo said.
While ARMM Chief of Staff Avecina Alonto assured the skeletal workforce of the port of the "continued support" of the regional government, citing the significance of their role in building the regional economy.
The Philippine Port Authority (PPA) devolved the operations of the Polloc Port to the ARMM government but brought back to the national government the facility's personnel, fiscal and structural resources a few years back.
Mohammad said the inaugural ceremonies took place at a time when a Korean commercial vessel arrived at the regional port for business transaction.
