News Update Official nixes modification of RA 9054

OLO, Sulu, Philippines - Sulu Governor Abdusakur Tan on Monday expressed apprehension that the proposed amendments to Republic Act (RA) 9054, as proposed by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), ''will only add more chaos to the people of Sulu and the rest of the provinces in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).'' Tan said that the 21-year-old region apparently failed to deliver the much needed improvement for socio-economic in the province which directly affects the lives of the people of Sulu. RA 9054 is an act that creates the ARMM which comprises the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao, Sulu, Basilan, and Tawi-Tawi, and the cities of Marawi and Lamitan in Basilan. OPAPP officials recently met with local chief executives of the ARMM to address the issues on the proposed amendments on RA 9054, the implementation of the agreement to set up the Bangsamoro Development Assistance Fund (BDAF), and the tripartite monitoring of the implementation of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (GRP-MNLF) agreement. OPAPP said that among the three issues, the most urgent is the proposed amendments of RA-9054, the act creating the ARMM. Tan that in a plebiscite for the proposed amendment or amendments to RA 9054, ''a question of whether an ARMM-member province still would like to stay in the autonomous region or not should also be asked.'' Meanwhile, Tawi-Tawi Gov. Sadikul Sahali has urged the national government to infuse more funds to ARMM to fast-tract the needed socio-economic development in the five provinces and two cities that comprises the region. (Nonoy E. Lacson)