The Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA) shared experience on community development in the conflict-affected areas (CAAM) during the International Conference on Sharing Experience on Community Driven Development (CDD) Projects in Fragile Areas at River Living Place Hotel, Pattani, Thailand from June 18-19, 2019.

BDA executive director Engr. Windel Diangcalan and Ustadz Abdulrasheed Ambil, regional manager for Central Mindanao presented the story.

Said conference was co-hosted by the World Bank, in partnership with Korean Development Institute (KDI), the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre (SBPAC).

It aims to: i) facilitate a dialogue and exchange on CDD operations in sub-national conflict areas, and ii) assist the Royal Thai Government and local communities in the affected areas to apply conflict-sensitive CDD principles into their project design and future operations.

The BDA is invited to share experience on CDD implementation in the conflict affected areas in Mindanao.

Representatives from Myanmar, Indonesia (including Aceh), and Thailand (particularly Pattani Province) are invited to share their CDD experiences.

The Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA) headed by executive director Mohammad S. Yacob together with deputy executive director Engr. Windel Diangcalan, shared experience of community development programs in conflict affected areas in Mindanao in a recent meeting of the Joint Task Forces on Camp Transformation (JTFCT) hosted by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) on July 22, 2018 in Manila, Philippines.

BDA presented about ongoing progress of the implementation of the Mindanao Trust Fund Reconstruction and Development Project Phase II (MTFRDP/2) and of the Social Preparation Phase of Quick Impact Project (QIP).

“We shared about stories of the implementation of the MTFRDP/2 for the first quarter that is from April to June 2018  and also of the updates on the social prep for the QIP which activities were started just this month of July 2018”, Dir. Yacob disclosed.

In the recent 1st Bangsamoro Global Economic Summit, the Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA) through Executive Director, Engr. Windel Diangcalan presented the Unified Bangsamoro Development Plan (UBDP) as the Socio-economic Development Agenda of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) on August 19, 2019 at Manila Hotel.

Engr. Diangcalan told that the BDA as development arm of the MILF presented the plan with the guidance of the BARMM Interim Chief Minister Ahod Balawag “Al-Hajj Murad” Ebrahim, who was one of the main speakers of the event.

ICM welcomed investors to the BARMM; assured that the region will protect the safety of their investment and also commit to provide tax holidays and incentives.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was also invited but was not able to come.  

Accordingly, this first summit was organized by the Bangsamoro Federal Business Council, Inc. (BFBCI) with the aim to call attention of foreign and local dignitaries to the rehabilitation and rebuilding of the Marawi City, the Philippine’s only Islamic City.

IN PHOTO: Engr. Windel Diangcalan, executive director and Hashim Manticayan, deputy exec.dir.  of the Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA) met with the officials from the Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEF) and the Philippine Center for Islam and Democracy (PCID) on April 15, 2019 at Cotabato City to share knowledge in enhancing proposed program of support to the Bangsamoro region.

The Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA) joined the SMART in receiving an Excellence Award on development communication at the 17th Philippine Quill Awards on August 31, 2019.

SMART bagged 1st Runner Up citation as Agency of the Year.

BDA was invited as partner of Smart for the development Tahderiyyah Apps- a digital application featuring balance education for kindergarten. 

Engr. Windel Diangcalan, executive director of the Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA) joined partners and stakeholders to the Consultation Meeting for the Development of BARMM's 10-Year Master Plan for Agriculture and Fisheries on July 10-12, 2019 at Apo View Hotel, Davao City. 

Key officials of the Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA) headed by Executive Director Engr. Windel Diangcalan together with Deputy Exec. Dir. Hashim Manticayan joined with the officials and technical personnel of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) and selected civil society partners of the region during the series of experience-sharing activities on July 1-3, 2019 at Banda Aceh and Sabang, Aceh Province, Indonesia.

The activity entitled Technical Cooperation and Continuing Institutional Development of BARMM on Political Transition and Transition Management which was organized by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Philippines Country Office as requested by the Interim Chief Minister Al Hajj Murad Ibrahim of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority as part of the continuing human resource and institutional capacity-building of the BTA/BARMM.

“It’s a learning mission of MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front) team. In this time, we (BDA) is part of MILF team composed of: the Office of Wali, Normalization committee, and the Ministry of Health”, Engr. Diangcalan said.

Baitulmal system for zakat-waqf (an inalienable charitable endowment under Islamic law) management to complement government service delivery and Islamic banking and financing in support to community-driven development were among the topics learned during the three-day trip.

“We learned from their experiences, we share experiences then we interact and later on we compare it with our own entity”, he added.

Engr. Diangcalan also shared, “we learned about Shari’ah Compliant microfinance and Islamic financing which are part of our socio-economic development framework. In fact there was a dates (khurma) palm thrives in tropical areas there. There’s a 16-hectare land which is waqf and the operation cost (including seedlings, input, management cost, among others) are all waqf.”

“In the BDA, hopefully and we want to implement instantly the Shari’ah Compliant microfinance because it’s already part of our strategic plan and part of our operation in which we had already the PLEDGE program”, he ended.

It was reported that the activity was conducted as part of the UNDP’s ongoing support to strengthening an enabling environment for peace and stability in the Muslim Mindanao region of the Philippine (the Bangsamoro) areas relative to political transition and its overall management.

BARMM was established this year in replacement of the ARMM. It comes after the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) that reflects the common aspirations of Bangsamoro of the ideal governance that responds to their own way of life as people. This experience-sharing mission is part of the continuing initiative to get learning from other countries who has the same story of transitioning and transforming from conflict to productive and peaceful society.

Mohammad S. Yacob, executive director of the Bangsamoro Development Agency attended to the Bangsamoro Normalisation Trust Fund Meeting on July 25,2018 in Quezon City.

According to Dr. Yacob, the tivity was designed to come up with Project List and identify activities potential for funding by the BNTF.

BNTF is created to provide support to the implementation of the Normalisation in the Bangsamoro.

Key stakeholders and donor partners gathered for this workshop towards the common goal of peace and development.

Dir. Yacob is appointed to the BNTF as co-chair.

For his part, the involvement of BDA in the BNTF is very significant as development arm of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which has been tasked of executing development projects in conflict affected communities.

March 31, 2019, the turn-over ceremony of responsibility for executive director of the Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA) at the agency’s grounds in Brgy. Datu Balabaran, Cotabato City.

Outgoing exec. dir. Mohammad S. Yacob recalled how he started at the BDA from member of the board of directors to becoming the director.

He said that he was intimidated at first knowing that key officials of BDA holds significant titles while he considered himself as not well educated in terms of acquired knowledge.

“Because of that, I worked hard to learn and develop myself”, Yacob stated.

Yacob thanked partners for trusting BDA under his leadership from 2010 to 2019.

Incoming exec. dir. Engr. Windel Diangcalan who was with BDA since inception also recollected memories of his beginning at the agency from volunteers to youngest BOD secretary then other various positions at the office. 

“Recalling those humble beginnings, I never expected to reach this far, of becoming executive director of BDA”, he expressed.

Dr. Saffrullah Dipatuan, BOD chair spoke of relevant knowledge, experience and skills gained from working with the BDA that accordingly will be useful for the outgoing Yacob and the rest of other officials who are now part of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA).

He also told that BDA would be a partner of BARMM in providing services to the Bangsamoro.

During the event, Yacob handed over to Engr. Diangcalan BDA Annual Report 2018 including data and financial report and in return received a token as symbol of gratitude for his service with the agency.  

Partners from various agencies graced this turnover ceremony, which manifested their continuing trust and support to BDA.

The BDA Board of Directors were also present to witness this event.

Staff and volunteers worked together in accommodating the visitors and guests and in facilitating the activity with supervision of the BDA’s management.