Three villages in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao, are initial recipients of new barangays halls costing PHP3.5-million each from the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) government, regional officials said Monday.

“The new barangay halls are expected to improve the services of barangay officials and personnel once completed,” lawyer Naguib Sinarimbo, minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Local Government–BARMM, said in an interview here.

Sinarimbo, together with BARMM Chief Minister Ahod B. Ebrahim, led Sunday afternoon the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of two-story barangay government centers for the villages of Gang, Banubo, and Simuay, all in Sultan Kudarat town.

During his speech at the ceremony, Ebrahim said the completion of the barangay halls would enable faster delivery of basic services and easier access to village leaders.

He said building government centers in every barangay across the region is part of the BARMM’s commitment to its continuous call for “moral governance. It is very important that we have a barangay hall to ensure that we can provide them (people) with services that suit their needs.”

Sinarimbo said the three barangay halls being constructed are part of the initial 20 of the 220 barangay halls that are scheduled for construction this year in villages of Sulu, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, and Cotabato City, and also the 63 barangays in North Cotabato that now form part of BARMM.

Sinarimbo said the remaining 200 will be constructed in all of BARMM’s provinces within the year.

“Our total goal is to complete by 2022 some 400 units of barangay halls across the region,” Sinarimbo said, adding that the MILG-BARMM had conducted an assessment of the projects before the granting of the aid to villages in the region.

Sultan Kudarat Mayor Datu Shameem Mastura has expressed his appreciation to the BARMM leadership for continuously upholding moral governance in the exercise of political, economic, and administrative authority in the region. (PNA)