COTABATO CITY—The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao has exceeded its 100-percent-increase target in investments at the close of the first semester of 2017, the Regional Board of Investments in ARMM said.
Lawyer Ishak Mastura, RBOI-ARMM management head, said that as of June 30, the board had already registered P3.65 billion, more than 100 percent of the registered investments in the same period up to mid-2016.
Mastura said RBOI-ARMM mainly registered three investment projects for 2017. The first is a P32-million fish processing and cold storage project of the Abing Seafoods and Cold Storage in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi. It was designed to address the needs of the fisherfolk in the province in processing, storage, and in preserving their sea catch.
Second is the P33.5-million cargo-shipping project of J. Sayang Shipping Lines, Inc. also based in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi, for interisland trade and for cross-border shipping with Sabah, Malaysia.
Earlier, the RBOI-ARMM approved the P3-billion telecommunications carrier project of the TierOne Communications International, Inc. in the region. The company intends to eventually cover the entire ARMM with its telecom investment, with assurance of future provision on expansion program and infusion of additional capital as needed.
TierOne will provide cellular service in 2G, 3G, 4G, LTE, broadband wireless internet to homes and enterprises, and WiFi for public or common areas. With the fastest internet service of 3,000 kB/s download speeds, it will provide coverage for Voice Over Internet Protocol services. It will be using the latest technology such as fiber optics and satellite relay with international gateway facility.
The company is 70 percent-owned by Filipinos and 30 percent by Australians. It obtained a franchise to operate as a telecommunications service provider from the ARMM Regional Legislative Assembly a few years back.