COTABATO CITY — The Bangsamoro Planning and Development Authority (BPDA) successfully facilitated a two-day ‘virtual writeshop’ on September 16-17, 2020, with the agenda of finalizing the formulation of the Bangsamoro Recovery Plan (BRP) for COVID-19 for the fiscal year 2020-2022.
BRP-TWG members present were representatives from the Ministry of Health (MOH), Ministry of Interior and Local Government (MILG), Ministry of Finance, Budget and Management (MFBM), Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE), Ministry of Social Services and Development (MSSD), Ministry of Public Works (MPW), Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Agrarian Reform (MAFAR), Ministry of Trade, Investment and Tourism (MTIT), Ministry of Labor and Employment (MOLE), Ministry of Public Order and Safety (MPOS) and BPDA as chair of the TWG.
Other offices in attendance were the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources and Energy (MENRE), Ministry of Indigenous People Affairs (MIPA), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA); Ministry of Transportation and Communication (MOTC), Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), Regional Ports and Management Authority (RPMA), Bangsamoro Commission on the Presentation of Cultural Heritage (BCPCH) and Office of the Chief Minister (OCM).
In detail, the ‘follow-through’ writeshop is aimed to work through on the following: Ensuring Consistency and Alignment of BRP Strategic Framework; Bangsamoro Government Response, Gaps and Challenges; Review of the Assessment on the Impact of COVID-19 and the Strategic Framework by Sector; Identification/Refinement of Indicators and Targets; Writeshop on the assigned chapters including review of related reports and surveys; Priority Programs, Activities, Projects and Services (PAPS) for 2020-2022 and Review Against Sectoral Framework.
During the writeshop, members were divided into four groups and sent to their breakout rooms to further discuss by sector: Peace and Governance, Social, Economic, and Infrastructure. At the end of the activity, each sector reported the status of the sectoral writeshop, result matrices (RM), and the Programs, Activities, Projects, and Services (PAPS).
BPDA-BARMM Bangsamoro Director General and BRP Chairperson Engr. Mohajirin T. Ali discoursed the challenges that the Bangsamoro Government is facing amidst the COVID-19 global pandemic, where he also highlighted the gradual increase of said cases in the region.
“There’s a lot of challenges most especially here in the heart of BARMM Government Center. In fact, for the past two weeks, the Office of the Chief Minister has been forced to shut down due to the challenge posed by the ongoing crisis,” Ali said.
Following the said gradual increase of infected individuals caused by the coronavirus, Ali reminded the members of the TWG to focus on the formulation of the BRP to mitigate the effects of the pandemic and to also meet the deadline.
“If we are able to finish the recovery plan sooner and present it to the cabinet, the better so we can have guidance that would allow us to move forward. Let us bear in mind that we are only given 90 days to finish the plan,” Ali stressed.
When the pandemic struck the entire world, the BARMM government replicated the quarantine measures set by the national government’s Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) to contain the outbreak in the region.
Specific measures taken were the prohibition of mass gatherings, suspension of Friday prayers, mass testing, travel and border restrictions, declaration of a state of calamity through Proclamation No. 922 and 929, the release of quick response funds to local government units (LGUs), facilitation of massive relief operations, turn-over of medical supplies and personal protective equipment (PPEs) to some medical facilities, equipping COVID-19 referral hospitals across the region, refurnishing of a neglected medical facility into a COVID-19 isolation center, installation of quarantine facilities for repatriated overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and the conduct of contact tracing.
Meanwhile, the workshop outputs shall be consolidated by the BPDA BRP Team. Series of coordination meetings with concerned agencies and other related activities are expected to follow in the succeeding weeks.
The BRP on COVID-19 Pandemic, FY 2020-2022 shall serve as a roadmap on how the Bangsamoro Government shall mitigate the effects of COVID-19, facilitate the transition to the new normal and manage the gradual recovery while managing the potential risks of wider infection in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region. (Lovella Lao-Lastimosa, IKMD, BPDA-BARMM)