BDA executive director Mohammad S. Yacob together with key staff and volunteers of the agency welcomed brothers from Turkey for the Qurbani Program 20018 on August 20, 2018 at BDCCCI, Cotabato City.

Visitors are in the city to monitor the implementation of the program in line with the Eid’l Adha Celebration.

Bangsamoro-scholars who finished schooling in Turkey also joined the meeting and acted as translators between BDA and Turkey officials to better promote understanding on the topics discussed.

Eid’l Adha (feast of sacrifice) is an annual event observed by Muslim Ummah worldwide to commemorate the act of prophet Ibrahim to sacrifice his son as act of worship to Allah s.w.t.

Over 200 cows are purchased for this year to sacrifice and be distributed to identified beneficiaries who are the poorest of the poor in Cotabato City, provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte.

Deniz Feneri Dernegi, Turkiye Dyanet Vakfi, Insani Yardim Vakfi and Sadaqatasi are humanitarian organizations based in Turkey that are supporting the Qurbani Program 2018.

The Islamic Bank and Finance Study Group of the Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA) met with the Amanah Islamic Bank senior officer held at the BDA Training Center, Cotabato City on May 19, 2019.

It aimed to discuss opportunities of fully operationalizing the Islamic banking and finance in the Bangsamoro in support of the full implementation of Shari’ah compliant socioeconomic development services within and outside the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. It also explored the possibility of cementing the partnership between the BDA and Amanah Islamic Bank.

“The Study Group has already received a go signal from the MILF leadership to proceed with the study and hopefully come with policy recommendation on Shari’ah compliant banking and finance in the Bangsamoro for BTA legislation”, said Study Group Team Leader Ustadz Esmail W. Ebrahim.

BDA executive director Engr. Windel Diangcalan emphasized the interest of the agency in pursuing Shari’ah-compliant microfinance within and outside BARMM to provide the Bangsamoro community-based enterprises to access finance to support their micro and small enterprises as important node of the supply and value chains informed by the Bangsamoro Development Plan (BDP).

Mr. Nasor Abdullatif, head of Operations Sector, presented the Shari’ah compliant products and services of the Amanah Islamic Bank that shall benefit the Bangsamoro that include, but not limited to, collection agreement, payroll service, fund transfer/OFW remittance, General Islamic Investment Account, Microfinance (Ijarah and Murabahah), car financing (Ijarah), Islamic salary Loan Program.

This is the fourth meeting of the Study Group. It serves as think tank of the Bangsamoro that shall help the Office of the Chief Minister of BARMM on policy research and policy recommendations on the implementation of the Islamic Bank and Finance in the Bangsamoro as stipulated in the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL).

Other Study Group members present during the meeting were: Moner Bajunaid, Alih Aiyub, Abdulmalik Alilaya, Salih Musa and Ms. Hasmiene Ibrahim.

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.