UN, BARMM support community-based Moro entrepreneurs

December 25, 2025 | 3:43pm

COTABATO CITY — An agency of the United Nations and the Bangsamoro government jointly provided eight groups of neophyte Moro entrepreneurs with P50,000 each in grants on Tuesday, December 23, to serve as additional capital and help boost their productivity in producing preserved native delicacies.

Bangsamoro Labor and Employment Minister Muslimin Sema said on Thursday, December 25, that many of the entrepreneurs in the eight groups are from families associated with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Moro National Liberation Front, which have separate peace agreements with the government. These groups are based in barangays in Datu Odin Sinsuat and Talitay in Maguindanao del Norte, as well as in Guindulungan, Shariff Saydona Mustapha, and South Upi in Maguindanao del Sur.

The release of the P50,000 grant to each of the eight groups—beneficiaries of the Bangsamoro Rural Employment through Entrepreneurial Development (BREED) Program of the Ministry of Labor and Employment–Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (MoLE-BARMM)—was facilitated on Tuesday by Minister Muslimin Sema, Director-General Surab Abutazil Jr., and Abdulrakman Nor of MoLE-BARMM’s Bureau of Labor Relations and Standards at the ministry’s regional office in Cotabato City.

Sema told reporters on Thursday that they are thankful to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, whose representative to MoLE-BARMM is Helen Flores, for its active involvement in the BREED Program. 

Another United Nations entity, the International Labour Organization (ILO), is also a partner of MoLE-BARMM in addressing child labor and the use of children as combatants by clans locked in bloody “rido,” a term for feud in many southern vernaculars—often triggered by affronts to family pride and honor, land disputes, and political rivalries.

“To these two entities of the United Nations, we in the Bagsamoro labor and employment ministry are so grateful,” said Sema, who is chairman of the central committee of the MNLF.

The MILF and the MNLF are cooperating in overseeing the operations of several BARMM agencies and have representatives too in the 80-seat regional parliament. 

BARMM’s chief minister, Abdulrauf Macacua, is also a ranking official of the MILF and is a member of the front's central committee, led by Ahob Ebrahim.

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