I. INTRODUCTION

The assumption to the office of the Acting Regional Governor ANSARUDDIN ALONTO ADIONG, provides new environment for the Autonomous Regional Government. He immediately laiddown his policies and priority directions in his administration, with intention to embark on a journey towards peace, justice, unity, and development. He directed the Regional Planning and development Office to formulate an action plan, the ARMM Strategic Action Plan (ASAP) covering the period 2010-2011.

The ASAP covers the five development areas of concerns, such as  a) peace, public order, safety, and security, b) economic development, c) social development, d) infrastructure development, and e) development administration.

The preparation of the ASAP  which  spells out the focused  priority directions of the Autonomous Regional Government,  was  guided by the existing ARELA that support the same vision, mission, and prioritized development objectives, strategies and targets in the ARMM RPFP and MTRDP.  As Action Plan, the ASAP shall serve as a guide in responding to the existing  development challenges in the region as highlighted in the ARELA, but not limited to the following:

a. Unstable peace and order. With the demand of the MNLF for the completion of the 1996 final peace agreement and the conclusion of the GRP-MILF peace process, skirmishes happened in some parts of the  region. This situation affects the socio-economic activities as well as productive outputs of the region.

b. High incidence of poverty. The provinces of ARMM are among the poorest provinces in the country. Statistics shows that the province of Tawi-Tawi is the poorest province in the Philippines. Statistics also shows that 55 out of every 100 families are poor. This figure is increasing   by  29% for the period of five years.

c. High infant and mortality rate. The regions infant mortality rate (IMR)   of 43.6 deaths per 1,000 live births is higher than the national average of 23 per 1,000 live births. While the Maternal Mortality Rate estimated at 250 death per 100,000 live births is also high compared to national average of 162 per 100,000 live births. The situations are still alarming and expected to be worsened by the prolong peace and order, and socio-economic  problems.

d. Low literacy rate. The report from DepEd-ARMM revealed that the simple literacy rate in the region is  71% for male and 69.4% for female. This very low compared to the national average of 92.6% and 94.3%, respectively.

e. Low income of families. Based on the Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) results, ARMM registered an average annual family income of PhP 89,000.00 with an average expenditures of  PhP 75,000.00. These levels are low compared to national average of PhP 173,000.00, and Php 147,000.00, respectively.

f. Low revenue generation capacity. Revenue generation still a big challenge to the Autonomous Regional Government because the businesses operation in the region are either small or medium scale. Tax collection from businesses and real properties are very minimal. It was reported that only 32 million pesos worth of revenue were collected by the region from 2001 to 2005.

g. Unskilled the labor force. As of January 2007, the total labor force of the region was estimated at about 1.12 million. Of this number 96.2% are employed while 3.8% are unemployed. For the employed about 160 thousand or 14.5% are underemployed due to lack of skill.

h. Low budget allocated to ARMM. Since the establishment of ARMM, the region is receiving the lowest budget compared to other regions in the country. About 70% of the total budget of ARMM goes to personal services.

i. Pending Devolution of other National Agencies. Until this time there are still national agencies without regional offices or had not been devolved to ARMM while other agencies were devolved partially. On the other hand, the region maintains coordinative work and linkage with the BIR and BLGF and other national agencies operating in the region.

j. Restriction to exploit strategic minerals. The RA 9054, the region is authorized to exploit its natural resources except strategic minerals. This means the ARG is authorized to regulate sand and gravel quarrying. Strategic minerals, rivers and lakes are potential sources of income, but they are part of the national wealth.

k. Low coverage of the irrigation system. The region has an irrigable area of about 200,000 hectares of which only about 21 thousand hectares are serviced by the irrigation system. The remaining subserviced area is about 178 thousand hectares.

The ASAP will help address these development challenges in the region through the implementation of various priority programs and projects. Among these programs and projects are; a)  roads and bridges projects, b) ports and airports projects, c) irrigation projects, d) community-based infrastructures projects,   e) Education programs, f) health and nutrition programs, g) social welfare programs, h) culture and heritage programs, i) sports development programs j) Agriculture and fisheries   programs,  k) agrarian reform programs, l) peace and security programs, and m) other socio-economic projects. These programs and projects aim to increase constituents’ access to services, improve economic activities, increase productivity, and improve peace and order conditions in the region.

The ASAP serves as the common road map of the executive department, the legislative department, and the LGUs in ARMM. Likewise, the ASAP shall be used as  advocacy instrument which contains demand-driven menu of development priorities and funding reference for Official Development Assistance (ODA), National Government agencies, Non-Government Organizations, Private sectors, and Civil Society Organizations.