DAVAO CITY (PNA) – The local government of the Autonomous Region in
Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is eyeing to create a special body aimed at
improving the halal production in the region. In his recent visit here,
lawyer Manguib Sinarunto, special assistant to the regional secretary
of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) of ARMM
said they are planning to create an Economic Development Agency in the
region, which will be tasked to do business especially in halal
production.
“It should be a corporate body created by the government to focus
mainly on halal food production,” he said. He admitted that although
ARMM is already a halal certifying body, the industry still lurk behind
due to production lack. “We will end up certifying halal products from
other regions because we don’t have enough production,” he said. He
blamed the poor halal food production in ARMM to lack of infrastructure.
He said the agency will only be created through a law. Draft of the
plan including the passage of a law creating the agency is now at the
level of the ARMM government, he said. Although the ARMM government
wants the private sector to act as key players in the planned agency,
Sinarunto admitted, the private sector seemed lukewarm due to the
region’s peace and order problem.
