COTABATO CITY — Basilan Gov. Mujiv S. Hataman, who assumed office on Monday, signed a directive for all local executives in the province and employees of the provincial government to abide by the Freedom of Information (FOI) policy of his administration.
Mr. Hataman explained in a message during Monday’s symbolic event in Santa Clara in Lamitan City, that his FOI policy is meant to ensure transparency in all activities of all government units in Basilan, including his office.
“This will be the fulcrum of our governance in the province, meant to ensure utmost transparency in all transactions involving funds. Details of how we are handling funds should be transparent to all. We want a clean, transparent manner of handling government funds,” Mr. Hataman said in Filipino.
Mr. Hataman also said then that he would not allow the display of tarpaulins with printed details about infrastructure projects in the province showing his image.
Mr. Hataman had served as regional governor of the now defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) for two consecutive terms before he was elected congressional representative of Basilan in 2019.
He resigned as regional governor in March 2019 of the then 27-year ARMM to pave the way for its replacement with a more administratively empowered Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), a product of 22 years of peace talks between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
The now five-year BARMM government is being managed together by officials of the MILF and the Moro National Liberation Front. Both fronts have separate peace agreements with the national government. — John Felix M. Unson