Cotabato City, BARMM — To help boost socio-economic development in the city, top officials from the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) coordinated a meeting with City Mayor Mohammad ‘Bruce’ Matabalao on Thursday, May 2, 2024, to discuss potential collaborations and partnerships.

 

Present at the coordination meeting were MOST Minister Engr. Aida Silongan, MAPDS, Bangsamoro Director-General Engr. Abdulrakman Asim, Director II Nasrudin A. Buisan, DiSDS, Integrated Laboratory Division Chief-Designate Rugaya Abdullah-Magandia, Metrology Laboratory Technical Manager, Mojahid Acmad S. Magandia, along with other MOST personnel. Mayor Bruce was joined by his Chief of Staff, Atty. Nes Lidasan, and other personnel.

 

Held at the People’s Palace, the coordination meeting specifically discussed ways in which the programs and services of the ministry could potentially be utilized to reach beneficiaries in the city through collaborative efforts between LGUs and the ministry.

 

MOST also presented and discussed its programs and services highlighting the Bangsamoro Standards and Halal Testing Laboratories (BSHTL) Services. Additionally, projects and services of Research, Development Services such as R&D Call for Proposals and Disaster Risk Reduction Management (DRRM) were also discussed.

 

Mayor Bruce committed to assisting MOST through his initiatives and efforts, ensuring that the constituents of Cotabato City would benefit from the programs and services of the ministry. He emphasized the need for preparing Memorandums of Agreements outlining the services offered by MOST to be rolled out to LGUs.

 

“We will begin by orienting our LGUs about the services offered by MOST, where these constituents can benefit from it,” Mayor remarked.

 

The discussion progressed well, leveraging strengths and resources that can make a significant impact in areas such as halal industry development, food and water quality testing, and calibration services.

 

Mayor Bruce also mentioned coordinating with the City Legislative Body to pass ordinances on ways to leverage the programs and services of the ministry, ensuring constituents’ exposure to services offered by MOST such as halal testing and analysis, calibration services, and others.

 

Minister Silongan expressed gratitude to Mayor Bruce for the productive discussion and hoped to push forward with the initiatives to introduce and implement the ministry’s programs and services to the constituents of Cotabato City.

 

#MOSTUpdates2024

 

[Information and Communication]