Sulu, Lanao del Sur get speedboats for emergency operations

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — The provinces of Sulu and Lanao del Sur got five brand new speedboats costing P12.5 million for rescue and relief missions, acquired through the efforts of five members of the Bangsamoro parliament.

The speedboats, powered with outboard engines made in Japan, were procured through the 2021 Transitional Development Impact Fund allocations of the offices of Members of Parliament Hadji Nabil Tan, Abraham Burahan, Musa Diamla and Eduard Guerra, via Transportation and Communications Minister Paisalin Tago.

Tago is also a concurrent member of the 80-seat parliament of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The lawyer Abubakar Katambak, director of the regional government’s Maritime Industry Authority, told reporters here Saturday that Tan, Burahan, Diamla and Guerra entrusted to his superior, the accountant-lawyer Tago, the acquisition of the boats.

The office of Tago, who is at the helm of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications-BARMM, has regulatory control over land and sea transportation and conveyances in all of BARMM’s six provinces and three cities.

Katambak said the units were released on Tuesday to beneficiaries ---- the local government units in the island municipalities of Panglima Tahil and Pangutaran, the provincial government of Lanao del Sur and its constituent volunteer multi-sector anti-illegal fishing group in Barangay Lusain in Kapatagan town.

“The beneficiaries of this boat provision project are grateful to our minister in the MOTC and the four members of the parliament who provided the funds used in the procurement of the units,” Katambak said.

Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal Adiong Jr. said Saturday his administration appreciates the allocation of two boats for his province, essential to relief and rescue missions and the protection of the municipal territorial seas of Kapatagan from illegal fishing.

“We are thankful to the members of the parliament who facilitated the procurement of these boats and to the agencies of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications that supported their initiative,” Adiong said.