Cotabato city: Pursuing ‘highly urbanized hub’

By Teng Lauban Datu
Cotabato City Bureau Chief

COTABATO City — The city government of Cotabato is persevering to pursue the “highly urbanized halal hub” status for Cotabato City in the next years.

With the recent development in the local economic activities and the relatively peaceful environment in Cotabato City, the local government is working double time to multiply its growth and be able to compete in the global arena.

City officials headed by City Mayor Atty. Frances Cynthia J. Guiani-Sayadi is in constant communication with both local and foreign private companies who have expressed their intent to invest in the city and put up several commercial establishments here. One of the biggest investors will come from the People’s Republic of China who will be putting up solar powered street lamps and will be offering affordable deals on solar power to local consumers. Other investors are eyeing the establishment of franchise hotels, restaurants, telecommunications, and other commercial and service providing companies.

In the 56th Regular Meeting of the Regional Development Council XII, recently hosted by Cotabato City, Guiani-Sayadi has announced the possibility of building a skyway in Cotabato City very soon to address its worsening traffic situation. This skyway will traverse across Cotabato City, from its entry points in the north and south. This will be the biggest infrastructure project in the city in the last few decades.

Also reported by Guiani-Sayadi was the proposed sisterhood between Cotabato City and the city of Bandung, Indonesia. Both cities have remarkable similarities especially in their strong cultural heritage, economic strategies, and leaders having strong political will in running the government. This sisterhood relationship will be beneficial to both cities as they will have the chance to exchange ideas regarding their best practices and be able to apply these in their own localities.

“Cotabato City is now moving forward. We are already thinking global. This may be one giant leap but we are taking it with full confidence and strong will. I know that with the support and cooperation of our people and our partners in the government and private sector, we can achieve all our plans,” Guiani-Sayadi said.

With the rising trend in the global demand for halal products, Cotabato City is seen to be the country’s “halal hub”. With half of its population comprising of Muslims and with the establishment of the  AA-standard Halal Slaughterhouse, the country’s only and soon to be upgraded to triple A or export-quality standard, Cotabato City has already complied with almost all of the ingredients required for a city to become a halal hub.

First of these ingredients is the local government unit serving as the enabler. The local government, with the active cooperation between the executive and the legislative departments, must be able to craft local laws that will be conducive for the halal industries to grow. The second is the presence of an institution that will serve as the adviser. In Cotabato City’s case, the Darul Ifta will be the one to provide opinions and guidelines to the implementation of the halal. Third is the presence of a “watchdog” and that role will be played by the Muslim Mindanao Halal Certifying Board that is also based in Cotabato City. Fourth is the sustainer of the supply chain which will be played by the Tabun Halal Multi Purpose Cooperative. This organization will be the one to ensure that the supply for halal products will always meet its demand by connecting the traders with the producers. The fifth ingredient of a successful halal hub is the presence of an Islamic financing institution.

Islamic financing is a system of financing that is consistent with the Shariah principles. It prohibits the specific interest or fees to money loans. Instead, it introduces principles such as Mudharabah or profit-and-loss sharing between the two parties and Musharakah or joint venture.

City administrator Dr. Danda N. Juanday said, as of now, Cotabato City doesn’t have an institution involved in Islamic financing but there are groups or organizations that are now offering Islamic micro-financing.

“This is already the beginning. We can make use of these groups and start small. All other ingredients are already present in Cotabato City and we should already act and work on it if we really want to be known as a halal hub”, the city administrator said.