P600M more investments pour into ARMM

COTABATO CITY—More investments poured into the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) as the year was ending, and officials said the stabilizing peace and order condition was a big factor for the influx of fresh capital.

Ishak Mastura, chair of the ARMM’s Regional Board of Investment, said some P600 million in new investments was approved at the start of the fourth quarter.

Mastura said the newly registered projects were those of the Maguindanao Energy Farms Inc. based in Simuay, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao, and of the Matling Industrial and Commercial Corp. in Malabang, Lanao del Sur province.

Both projects, which are in renewable energy, would be eligible for fiscal and non-fiscal incentives being provided by the government, he said.

Mastura said since the start of the year, the ARMM, made of the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, had received a total investment of P6 billion.

ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman said this year’s total investment was “the biggest in the history of ARMM.”

Mastura said the rekindled interest among investors was largely brought by the relative peace the region has been enjoying.

For years now, there had been no major clashes that have disrupted the regional economy. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the largest Moro rebel group operating in the ARMM and other areas, had signed a peace deal with the government.

“Investments will continue to come into the region for as long as there is sustained peace and stability,” Hataman said.

As this developed, the ARMM government and the Bureau of Customs have signed a joint memorandum order, which prescribed the sharing of operational mandates on import-export transshipment with the ARMM’s Regional Economic Zone Authority (ARMM-Reza).

Under the agreement, signed on Thursday by Hataman and Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina, warehouse locators at ARMM’s Reza in Polloc Freeport Complex in Parang, Maguindanao, and other economic investors shall be granted duty-free privileges.

The same privilege will also be applied to locators at the ARMM seaport in Tawi-Tawi.

To boost agri-based investments in ARMM, Hataman said the same privileges will also be granted to local agriculture industries importing breeding stocks and genetic materials, as well as in their importation of construction materials and office equipment.

“In coordination also with LGUs (local government units) concerned, the ARMM-Reza holiday package on business investments also covers other incentives from local taxation,” Hataman said. Nash Maulana, Inquirer Mindanao