COTABATO CITY, Philippines – The assertive collaboration of the health department of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) with its national office has yielded another blessing, this time the latter releasing some P800 million subsidy for health programs in the region, according to an official of the agency.

ARMM Health Secretary Dr. Kadil “Jojo” Sinolinding said the Department of Health’s (DoH’s) central office downloaded over the weekend the amount of P450 million to his office as another tranche of its P1.3 billion share from the P8.5 billion stimulus financial package earmarked by the Aquino administration to fast-track development in the autonomous region.

Sinolinding said his office earlier got P350 million from the DoH national office, bringing to P800 million the total amount released from the share of health projects and programs, which Health Secretary Enrique Ona programmed for ARMM on orders of President Aquino.

He said the P1.3 billion share of his department from the P8.5 billion stimulus fund is intended for the procurement of modern equipment and facilities to upgrade medical operations and health services in the autonomous region.

“We are just waiting for instructions from Secretary Ona to proceed with the procurement of all equipment and health facilities that we will be using in our region,” Sinolinding announced with obvious enthusiasm through the Aksyon ARMM radio program here.

He said the P1.3 billion procurement fund will pursue the Aquino government-designed Health Facilities Enhancement Program under the P8.5-billion stimulus subsidy for ARMM.

The multi-awarded Sinolinding expressed optimism that “with the support of our skilled and dedicated health workers, I am confident that we can redeem ARMM from being always among the regions with high infant and maternal mortality.”

He said the modern equipment and facilities to be purchased would be distributed equitably to the ARMM component provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi, and the cities of Marawi and Lamitan.

As this developed, Sinolinding lauded the national government for recognizing the trailblazing health campaign in the ARMM, which has been acknowledged recently for having the lowest rate of dengue cases and largest number of breastfeeding mothers in the country.

“We would like to thank our government because this early, the ordinary citizen of our region has already felt the state’s presence and assistance,” he added.