BARMM eyes foreign investments in 2020

Murad Ebrahim

COTABATO CITY—The 10-month-old Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) is banking on foreign investors to further spur its economy next year, local officials said.

For 2019, the Bangsamoro region attracted investments worth P4.1 billion, up by almost 40 percent from the P2.5 billion recorded the previous year under the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), records from the Regional Board of Investments (RBOI) showed.

The BARMM replaced the ARMM in February this year following the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law, which created the Bangsamoro, a region anchored on the final peace agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in 2014, and ended four decades of armed conflict.

BARMM interim Chief Minister Ahod Balawag Ebrahim, popularly known as Murad Ebrahim, the MILF chair, has invited investors from Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Malaysia and Indonesia to set up businesses in the region.

“The BARMM is open for business. We want investors to come and create jobs and incomes to help us attain our goal of sustainable development and inclusive growth,” Ebrahim said in a statement.

Business venture

He attributed the investment growth achieved by the region this year to the prevailing peace in the area, a result of the peace pact between the government and the MILF.

Ebrahim said investors had been taking advantage of the improving business climate in the Bangsamoro, resulting in the spike of investments in the region straddling the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

He dangled agriculture as the major business venture that foreign investors could viably pursue, citing the region’s ideal agroclimatic conditions (soil types, rainfall, temperature and water availability) and vast undeveloped fertile lands.

In 2019, the region attracted big-ticket investments in Cavendish banana and corn production as well as pineapple and abaca processing plants, according to RBOI data.

Lawyer Ishak Mastura, RBOI chair, said the BARMM had been eager to promote the region’s investment potentials.

“As a result of [Ebrahim’s] initial talks with potential investors, RBOI is expecting more investments in 2020,” Mastura said.

Natural energy sources

He said investors could also explore the region’s energy potentials, referring to the oil and natural gas deposits believed to be sitting in Liguasan Marsh in Maguindanao.

Ebrahim had traveled to Saudi Arabia and Turkey for investment missions this year and to improve ties with the two Muslim countries.

He said the region had been working to ease the process of doing business and had been eyeing the granting of incentives or tax breaks to investors.

The government and the MILF are implementing the normalization phase of the final peace agreement or the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro.

In the normalization phase, both sides have agreed to decommission MILF fighters and transform their communities into peaceful and productive economic zones.