ARMM Gov Apprises Washington Community of Positive Developments in Muslim Mindanao
ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman (front, 3rd from left) with Philippine Embassy Chargé d’Affaires ad interim, Minister Patrick Chuasoto (front, 3rd from right), US-Philippines Society President, Ambassador John Maisto, ARMM team, and other participants at a forum on Muslim Mindanao and the Duterte Administration held at the Philippine Embassy on April 06.
11 April 2017 WASHINGTON, D.C.— The Philippine Embassy and the US-Philippine Society organized a forum on Muslim Mindanao and the Duterte Administration at the Embassy’s Romulo Hall on April 06 with Governor Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). This capped a two-week focus by the Philippine Embassy in Washington D.C. on peace and development in the southern Philippines.
Governor Hataman described the modern-day Mindanao, how the Bangsamoro struggle evolved, and the steps taken by the Philippine Government towards peace in Muslim Mindanao. He presented the ARMM initiatives following its three pillars of reform and discussed the current Administration’s six-point peace and development agenda in the ARMM and the southern Philippines to an audience of US government officials, corporate executives, academics, researchers, students and Filipino-Americans.
“These positive developments in the peace process are necessary in order to address the perennial issue of underdevelopment and respond to the threat brought about by the existence of terrorist and extremist groups. This will surely usher in the realization of the aspirations of those who sacrificed their lives to gain peace and progress in the Bangsamoro areas, the whole Mindanao and the entire Philippines,” concluded Governor Hataman.
In the open discussion that followed, Governor Hataman fielded questions that touched on counter-terrorism, the role of the United States in Mindanao’s peace and development, Bangsamoro culture and heritage, and the critical importance of an effective healthcare system, among others.
Minister Patrick A. Chuasoto, Charge d’Affaires, ad interim of the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C hopes the Embassy has begun a continuing and engaged conversation among relevant stakeholders in the United States to promote more synergies for the genuine development of Mindanao, including the ARMM. END
Governor Hataman fielded questions from the participants of the forum on Muslim Mindanao and the Duterte administration held on 06 April 2017.