By
Edwin O. Fernandez
COTABATO
CITY, March 13 (PNA) -- The three-week old and still on ongoing military
offensive against lawless Moro armed men in Maguindanao did not affect or scare
away investors in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), officials
said Friday.
Lawyer
Mimbalawag Mangutara Jr., regional port manager of Polloc Port in Maguindanao,
said as the province’s gateway to local and foreign trade investments, the port
has entered into new lease agreements with companies that will pour in long
term investments.
Mangutara,
also heads the Regional Economic Zone Authority (Reza).
“Life
must go on despite the conflict," Mangutara said as he and Rob Scott,
corporate executive officer of the Iron Blaze Petroleum, Inc., laid the corner
stone Friday morning for the construction of a 7-million liter capacity oil
depot in Maguindanao's seaport.
"The
investors have not back out of their investments in the region," Lawyer
Ishak Mastura, chairman of the Regional Board of Investments (RBOI-ARMM), said.
"Even
in the aftermath of the Mamasapano tragedy, nothing has change in the
investors' plan to help ARMM developed," Mastura said.
The
Mamasapano incident left 44 Police Special Action Commandos, 18 Moro Islamic
Liberation Front (MILF) guerrillas and five civilians killed
In
December 2013, the Iron Blaze Petroleum, Inc. imported some 260,000 liters of
light crude from Sabah in Borneo Island for the region.
Mangutara
told reporters that the Polloc Port revenue has increased 420 percent from Php
690,000.00 in 2013 to Php 3.6 million in 2014.
With
Php 863 million in the first quarter, the ARMM has exceeded its 2015 target of
Php 500 million in aggregate worth of investments, according to the RBOI. (PNA)
RMA/NYP/EOF
RMA/NYP/EOF
