COTABATO CITY – The 80-member Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA), the lawmaking body of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), is set to distribute 16,000 bags of rice to needy constituents affected by the economic slowdown due to 2019 coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.
BARMM chief minister Ahod “Murad” Ebrahim said the regional government has already placed the purchase order for the 16,000 bags of rice that will be equally divided to each member of the Bangsamoro parliament.
“These will be distributed to affected residents of BARMM, especially those who reside in the far-flung areas and provinces each of the (BTA members) represent,” Ebrahim said late Saturday.
He added that as soon as the rice supply arrives, each of the 80 members of the BTA Parliament will be allocated with 200 bags of the commodity.
“The rice subsidy would be a big help to reach out to the poor constituents of our region who are victims of the present crisis,” BTA secretary-general Raby Angkal said.
Meanwhile, seven members of the BTA minority bloc also moved to donate their two-month salary for residents affected by the Covid-19 crisis.
Lawyer Laisa Alamia, BTA minority floor leader, said the initiative targets to continue the relief efforts which they have started last month.
“This crisis has severely affected people’s livelihoods in the Bangsamoro Region, and many of those affected would go hungry without help,” Alamia said.
Recently, more than 2,000 families have benefited from relief operations conducted by the group.
The recipients include residents of selected poor barangays, as well as the patients and staff of the Cotabato Regional and Medical Center in Cotabato City, the Cotabato Sanitarium Hospital in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao, Muslim communities, and Madaris teachers in Zamboanga City.
Alamia said residents of the port area of Sitangkai town in the province of Tawi-Tawi, and villagers in the town of Akbar in Basilan province also received relief packs.
“Cash assistance was also distributed to dozens of Bangsamoro daily wage-earners who lost their livelihood due to the pandemic, as well as BARMM residents stranded in different places in the country”, Alamia said.
The minority bloc has also begun procuring some 700 sets of personal protective equipment (PPE), decontamination tents, and thousands of masks intended for front-line medical workers across the region.
Together with Alamia at the minority bloc are engineers Don Loong, and Baintan Ampatuan; lawyers Rasol Mitmug Jr., and Teng Ambolodto; former local government executive Rasul Ismael; and youth leader and former journalist Amir Mawallil. Currently, the BTA is in recess and will resume its regular session in June. (PNA)
*Originally published on Philippine News Agency (https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1101012)