THE PROPOSED relocation of the Bangsamoro capitol to Parang, Maguindanao del Norte was approved on final reading late Monday by the region’s Parliament, a move cheered by local leaders and the business community.
“We welcome the approval of that enabling measure with gladness. Transferring the seat of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) to Parang is like opening a new investment corridor for regional and foreign investors,” lawyer-entrepreneur Ronald Hallid Dimacisil Torres, chairman of the Bangsamoro Business Council, said on Tuesday.
The BARMM government center is currently located in Cotabato City.
Parang town, which started as an enclave of the Spaniards in the 16th century, is the center of commerce and trade for the adjoining Buldon, Barira and Matanog towns in what is now Maguindanao del Norte and the municipality of Kapatagan in Lanao del Sur.
“Learning that the BTA (Bangsamoro Transition Authority) Bill 43 had been approved is like music to our ears,” Mohammad Omar Pasigan, chairman of the Bangsamoro Regional Board of Investments, told reporters via Messenger Tuesday.
Mr. Pasigan said Parang is surrounded by towns that have vast swaths of arable lands suitable for fruit farms as well as soya and corn plantations.
The largest seaport in the BARMM territory is located in Parang, home to mixed Moro Iranuns and Christians, mostly of Ilonggo and Cebuano descent.
The town once had fuel depots along its coastlines owned by different petroleum companies, but were closed down one after another in the early 1990s due to security concerns.
Maguindanao del Norte Gov. Abdulrauf A. Macacua said the expected expansion of businesses by wealthy traders in Cotabato City to Parang will generate employment for local residents.
“Providing our people with employment, as part of the BARMM government’s socio-economic agenda, is parallel with the socio-economic objectives of the national government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front,” said Mr. Macacua, also a senior official of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. — John M. Unson