CLARK FREEPORT – Mayors from Mindanao issued here Tuesday a four-page declaration vowing all out support for the Bangsamoro region and finally transform Mindanao into a “land of peace and opportunity where there are no more conflict, hunger and suffering.”
The declaration, issued during the end of the three-day Mindanao Cluster Island Conference organized here by the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP), also pledged to do away with “ethnic pride and prejudice” in the pursuit of lasting peace which the mayors described as “our common aspiration.”
The conference ended with several major resolutions including support for the establishment of the Bangsamoro which was “envisioned to be a democratic, parliamentary government giving Mindanao’s predominantly Muslim region the right to self-governance and self-determination.”
The mayors also issued several resolutions including one that endorsed the Mindanao Development Corridors Program which LMP national president Sandy Javier described as “a key strategy that would build infrastructure and spur the development of growth clusters to achieve balanced and inclusive growth.”
The other resolutions covered the following: – Endorsement of a cost-sharing program between LMP and the Department of Agriculture to establish a Municipal Heavy Equipment Pool, to boost the municipalities’ equipment capacity to build and maintain infrastructure; -Support for amendments to the Local Government Code proposed in the Senate, changing the formula in determining the shares of LGU’s from national taxes and expanding the tax base; – Support for the grassroots participatory budgeting process in the National Expenditure Program enabling LGU’s in implementing nationally funded programs that are identified and prioritized by local governments, and; -Transfer of control of local police force to the LGU’s while respecting the one national-civilian police force.
