BARMM, Al-Amanah Bank explore maritime modernization

BARMM, Al-Amanah Bank explore maritime modernization
PNA July 4, 2020 https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1107954

BARMM CENTER, Cotabato City – The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim (BARMM) Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) and Al-Amanah Islamic Investment Bank of the Philippines explored opportunities in modernizing the region’s maritime industry.

In a virtual meeting on July 1, Transportation and Communications Minister Dickson P Hermoso Amanah Bank Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Alex Bangcola focused their discussion on how to help the modernization program of BARMM’s Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) to operate effectively and efficiently during the political transition of the Bangsamoro Government.

Though MARINA-BARMM is still in the fine-tuning process with its national counterpart on the modernization program, Hermoso told Bangcola that the latter can play a critical role in coping with the region’s modernization fiscal requirements.

MARINA Circular NO. 2016-02 Series of 2016 will gradually phase out wooden-hulled water vessels that carry more than 15 GT both in domestic and international waters. The circular raised the pressing issue to owners and operators of wooden-hulled boats.

Al-Amanah Bank can essentially assist through the provision of soft loans for the small-scale entrepreneurs who own water vessels operating in the Moro Gulf and the Sulu Sea, including the rivers and lakes within the BARMM five provinces.

The assistance can also cover the transformation of small scale entrepreneurs into associations and cooperatives for a more cohesive approach in BARMM maritime industry.

“Making the said assistance to the small scale entrepreneurs will become a leap forward to the realization of the peace agenda, that is to provide sustainable livelihood program to the BARMM constituents, most especially the former Moro combatants,” Hermoso said.

Bangcola said they are open to the possible financing of the modernization program with supporting capital for the procurement of fast crafts and steel-hulled water vessels that can essentially help MARINA-BARMM’s maritime operations.

“It would be of great help for BARMM-MARINA to ease up the challenges in their operations considering the porous borders in the three island provinces of Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi (BASULTA).” Hermoso added.

Sea vessels plying in the BARMM region crisscrosses the international waters that thinly define the borders of other Southeast Asian neighbors like Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei.

Some of those sea crafts and cargo vessels are from Australia and New Zealand that traverse through Bongao Channel or Sibutu Strait

The participation of Al-Amanah Islamic Investment Bank of the Philippines, the country’s only Islamic bank, calls for the need for an Islamic bank in the Bangsamoro area, through the Republic Act No. 11439, or An Act Providing for the Regulation and Organization of Islamic Banks and the relevant provisions on Islamic banking under R.A. No. 11054, or the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL).

Last year, the Bangsamoro government agreed with the Department of Finance (DOF) to set up an Islamic Bank to open up financial access to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) within the Bangsamoro region.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) early this year issued regulations to jumpstart the operations of Islamic banking in the country that will focus on the underserved part of the Bangsamoro government

The establishment of Islamic banks is part of the government’s endeavor to attract more investments and magnify the financial flow in the Bangsamoro area. (ACO)