COTABATO CITY – A proposed bill seeking to protect the rights of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the region has reached its second stage in the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) Parliament on Wednesday, March 24.

Minority Floor Leader Atty. Laisa Alamia, who introduced BTA Bill No. 23 or known as the “Rights of Internally Displaced Persons in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region Act”, said it is the state’s duty and responsibility to provide protection and humanitarian assistance to IDPs within its jurisdiction.

The bill shall provide for the protection of the rights of internally displaced Bangsamoro people in situations of armed conflict, generalized and/or organized violence, clan wars, violation of human rights, implementation of development projects, and natural, human-induced, and hand-made hazards, during and after displacement, as well as their return, local integration, or resettlement elsewhere.

During and after displacement, the following rights shall be afforded to the IDPs: provision and access to basic needs; protection against criminal offenses and other unlawful acts; freedom of movement; recognition, issuance and replacement of documents; family unity and missing persons; and health and education.

“My fellow members of the Parliament, part of the moral governance we seek to espouse in the regional governance is our moral responsibility to those who are underprivileged and disadvantaged,” Alamia said during her sponsorship speech Wednesday.

“Pioneering a regional policy on internal displacement here in our very own BTA is a strong testament to our commitment in addressing the oft-ignored challenges that confront our people, as we work on establishing and sustaining just and lasting peace in the region,” she emphasized.

Under the bill, a Bangsamoro Internal Displacement Coordination and Monitoring Office (BIDCMO) shall be created under the Ministry of Social Services and Development (MSSD) as the BARMM’s institutional focal point for IDPs.

Furthermore, to ensure interagency and intergovernmental coordination and cooperation in addressing internal displacement in the region, a Bangsamoro Internal Displacement Coordinating Council (BIDCC) shall also be created.

The BIDCC shall be chaired by the MSSD and co-chaired by the two (2) Deputy Chief Ministers. Its members shall include the Ministries of Human Settlement and Development (MHSD), Interior and Local Government (MILG), Health (MOH), Basic, Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE), Public Order and Safety (MPOS), Bangsamoro Women Commission, Police Regional Office in BARMM, Provincial Governments of the region’s five provinces – including Lamitan and Marawi City, City Government of Cotabato, one (1) representative from the 63 barangays of North Cotabato, four (4) representatives from the civil society organizations, and one (1) representative from the private sector.

Authors of the bill also include Minority Floor Leaders Engr. Baintan Ampatuan, Atty. Suharto Ambolodto, Atty. Rasol Mitmug, Jr., and MPs Rasul Esmael, Don Mustapha Loong, and Amilbahar Mawallil. (Bangsamoro Information Office)

*Originally published by the Bangsamoro Information Office (https://bangsamoro.gov.ph/news/latest-news/protection-of-idps-rights-in-barmm-sought-in-new-bta-bill/)

COTABATO CITY – In honor of the Tausug’s resistance to United States’ colonization on March 6, 1906, a bill declaring said date as Bud Dajo Day has been filed in the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) Parliament.

Member of Parliament Amilbahar S. Mawallil introduced BTA Bill No. 88 entitled “An act declaring March 6 of every year as Bud Dajo Day in commemoration of the Tausug’s resistance to foreign occupation and their continuing quest for peace and self-determination.”

According to Mawallil, around 800 – 1,000 Tausug villagers were massacred on said date inside the 50-foot crater of Bud Dajo – a dormant volcano six to seven kilometers away from Jolo, Sulu. The victims were a community of Tausugs who fled to the volcano in defiance of the United States’ occupation of Mindanao.

“Despite being out-gunned and overpowered, the freedom-loving Tausugs chose to fight, and sacrifice their lives, rather than submit to American rule by paying taxes or surrendering their weapons,” Mawallil stated on the bill’s explanatory note.

Under the bill, Bangsamoro Government’s different ministries, offices, and agencies shall organize and implement annual activities designed to raise public awareness on the events in Bud Dajo.

The Bangsamoro Commission for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage (BCPCH) and the Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE), in partnership with non-governmental organizations advocating for human rights, shall lead public and private school communities at all levels in the BARMM in organizing consciousness-raising activities on Bud Dajo Day.

“Mr. Speaker it was a story that needs to be retold over the next generation, so that the next generation will never forget the sacrifices of our ancestors to resist US colonial domination,” said MP Mawallil during his sponsorship speech on Wednesday, March 24.

The bill was also authored by MP Engr. Don Mustapha Loong, with co-authors including Minority Floor Leader Atty. Laisa M. ALamia, Deputy Minority Floor Leaders Engr. Baintan A. Ampatuan, Atty. Suharto M. Ambolodto, Atty. Rasol Y. Mitmug Jr., and MP Rasul E. Ismael. (Bangsamoro Information Office)

*Originally published by the Bangsamoro Information Office (https://bangsamoro.gov.ph/news/latest-news/barmm-to-observe-march-6-as-bud-dajo-day-in-new-proposed-bta-bill/)

COTABATO CITY –A journalist-turned-lawmaker in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) filed the region’s first Freedom of Information (FOI) bill to provide the public wider access to public records.

Member of Parliament (MP) Amilbahar Mawallil of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) said Saturday the FOI bill has received a positive response from BTA colleagues.

“We believe that our people deserve to know how the regional government works. They have the right to know its dealings,” Mawallil said.

Mawallil and Deputy Minority Floor Leader Baintan Ampatuan filed BTA Bill No. 83 or the proposed “Bangsamoro Freedom of Information Act of 2021” on Friday.

“We owe it to our people to be transparent about the operations of the regional government,” Ampatuan said.

Mawallil and Ampatuan explained that once passed into law, every person shall have the right to access, examine, and copy information, official records, public records under the custody or control of the Bangsamoro Government, and to documents and papers about official acts, transactions or decisions.

Under the bill, all BARMM offices shall automatically disclose the following public records on their respective official websites like audited financial statements, annual budget reports, itemized monthly collections and disbursements, summaries of income and expenditures, and revenue targets and actual collections.

Statements of debt services, annual procurement plans and procurement lists, building processes, deadlines, and requirements, public bidding, loans, grants, development assistance, programs from domestic and foreign financial institutions, investment programs, and executive issuances (executive orders, memoranda, administrative orders, proclamations) shall also be made public.

The Bangsamoro Information and Communications Technology Office (BICTO) shall be mandated to monitor the websites of all the offices of the BARMM and provide appropriate support, Mawallil said.

He said the Bangsamoro Information Office (BIO) would serve as the FOI focal office that will oversee the implementation of the provisions of the act.

Also, the BIO shall be tasked to develop standard forms for the submission of requests and the proper acknowledgment of such requests.

“More so, the BIO shall also prepare a Right to Information Manual which shall be readily available to the public at no charge,” Mawallil said.

The FOI bill was also co-authored by Minority Floor Leader Laisa Alamia, Deputy Minority leaders Suharto Ambolodto and Rasol Mitmug Jr., and MPs Don Mustapha Loong and Rasul Ismael. (PNA)

*Originally published on Philippine News Agency (https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1134295)

COTABATO CITY—A group of members of the interim Bangsamoro parliament is pushing for a freedom of information law in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) which is currently completing its bureaucracy.

The measure was filed as Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) Bill No. 83, seeking to establish a system for offices in the Bangsamoro government mandating respect for and upholding people’s right to information.

According to the bill’s authors, passing legislation was needed to provide substantive and procedural details to ensure people’s access to information which are of public interest. It would be in keeping with transparency and full disclosure of government transactions.

The bill’s authors also said the measure was a concrete step toward public accountability and moral governance.

The mechanism for information access is sought to apply to all Bangsamoro government offices, including the parliament, ministries, departments, bureaus, commissions, boards, and other agencies, and government-owned or controlled corporations.

The proposal seeks to make available to the public government research data used as basis for policy decisions aside from records and documents of transactions and official acts.

The following pieces of information, the bill said, must be publicly disclosed:

• Audited financial statements
• Annual budget report
• Itemized monthly collections and disbursements
• Summary of income and expenditure
• Revenue targets and actual collections
• Statement of debt services
• Annual procurement plan and procurement list
• Bidding processes, deadlines and requirements
• Items to bid, bid results on civil works, goods and services
• Consulting services
• Supplemental procurement plan

Also subject to public disclosure are:

• Loans, grants, development assistance, technical assistance and programs from domestic and foreign financial institutions
• Development plans, investment programs, detailed engineering design, standard specifications, performance targets and accomplishments, manual of operations, programs and projects, and the implementation guidelines
• Executive issuances.

Under the measure, anyone interested to access information may just send a written request personally or via email and post.

Information shall be given free except for printing, photocopying and mailing costs.

Penalties are prescribed for failure by any government official or employee to attend to information requests within a specified period to respond.

The bill was introduced by parliament members Amir Mawallil and Baintan Adil-Ampatuan and co-authored by Laisa Alamia, Suharto Ambolodto, Don Loong, Rasol Ismael and Rasol Mitmug Jr.