COTABATO CITY – Members of the minority bloc of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) filed a resolution on Thursday expressing the full support of the regional law-making body for the national government’s “Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa” (BP2) program.
The BTA minority bloc expressed its support for BP2 before the resumption of the Bangsamoro parliament session on June 16. The legislative body earlier suspended its sessions for the month-long fasting period of Ramadan that commenced on April 24.
“In anticipation of the people returning to Bangsamoro region areas under the BP2, a concrete development framework plan should be formulated by the Bangsamoro government in cooperation with the parliament,” the minority bloc said.
The group pointed out that the BP2 program is consistent with Section 7, Article IV of the Bangsamoro Organic Law, which provides that the Bangsamoro government “shall ensure that every Filipino citizen in its territorial jurisdiction shall be provided with basic necessities and equal opportunities in life.”
With BARMM in place as established in the Bangsamoro Organic Law, as well as its vast resources and potential, the bloc said the Moro people living in the National Capital Region and urban areas may opt to return to the Bangsamoro region.
On May 6, President Rodrigo Duterte issued Executive Order 114 institutionalizing the program to decongest Metro Manila amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic and for balanced regional development.
The program framework is divided into four key areas – empowerment of local industries; food security and agricultural productivity; social welfare, health, and employment; and the development of infrastructure.
The members of the BTA’s minority bloc include engineers Baintan Adil-Ampatuan and Don Loong; lawyers Laisa Alamia, Suharto “Teng” Ambolodto, and Rasul Mitmug Jr.; and opinion writer Amir Mawallil. (PNA)
COTABATO CITY — Members of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) Parliament in the province of Lanao del Sur has started the distribution of rice assistance from the Office of the Chief Minister to its needy constituents affected by the Coronavirus disease (Covid-19) global pandemic crisis.
Deputy Chief Minister Ali B. Solaiman (4th from right) is joined by Members of the Parliament Marjanie Macasalong (1st from left) and Mohammad Zainoden P. Bato (3rd from right) in one of the relief operations conducted by the Ranao Region team. (Photo courtesy of the Office of MP Marjanie Macasalong)
At present, Macasalong said they were able to serve nineteen (19) towns from both Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur provinces.
“We are giving 10 kilos of rice per family,” Macasalong said.
To date, the breakdown of rice assistance given per household in different municipalities are as follows: Marawi City – 5,000; Marantao – 2,000; Maguing – 300, Malabang – 500; Kapatagan – 100, Taraka – 2000, Ditsaan-Ramain – 200; Bubong – 1000, Balindong – 800; Poona Bayabao – 500, Masiu – 2000; Balabagan 200; Lumbayanague – 1500, Lumba Bayabao – 500, Piyagapo – 1000; Balo-i – 1500; Bayang – 300; Sultan Dumalundong 800 and Butig – 1000.
Macasalong stressed that the team is now on their third wave of relief distribution.
“Our time frame to finish with the distribution in the whole province would be at least by the end of July 2020,” Macasalong said.
Further, Macasalong shared the positive feedbacks of the different local government units from the two provinces.
“The local governments here were very grateful of our efforts and we would also like to thank them in return for appreciating all our hard works. To our populace, we have tried and did our best to maximize our resources both goods and manpower to provide for every member of Bangsamoro within our reach. Let us help one another get through this crisis and together, InshaAllah, we shall rise against this pandemic,” Macasalong emphasized.
RICE DISTRIBUTION — A barangay official from Chinatown in Malabang directly handed over a relief pack to a father during random relief distribution. In behalf of Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) Parliament Speaker Ali Pangalian M. Balindong, Liga Ng Mga Barangay President and Barangay Bacayawan Chair Norodin B. Marohom led the recent relief operations to at least 27 barangays. (Photo courtesy of Brgy. Chinatown, Malabang)
In a separate event, Speaker Balindong has also extended rice assistance to at least 3,000 households in the town of Malabang.
Balindong said a total of three hundred (300) sacks of rice were subdivided to at least twenty-seven (27) barangays of Malabang thru Liga Ng Mga Barangay President and Barangay Bacayawan Chair Norodin B. Marohom.
These are the barangays of Curahab, Banday, Chinatown, Campo Muslim, Bunkhouse, Pasir, Matling Airport, Mananayo, Pialot, Mable, Tambara, Jose Abad Santos, Sembagarogong, Montay, Tacub, Tiongcop, Calibagat, Macaurandig, Inandayan, Matampay, Masao, Calumbog, Cabasaran, Badak Lumao, BPS Village, Boniga and Bacayawan.
In an earlier statement, Ebrahim said the rice distribution is on top of the ongoing initiatives of the Bangsamoro Government to address the needs of the populace during this crisis.
“It will be distributed to the affected residents of BARMM, especially those who reside in the far-flung areas and provinces each of the (BTA members) represent,” Ebrahim said. (GALao, BTA Parliament)
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)
COTABATO CITY— The people who understand best the struggle for self-governance are those who went through it themselves.
In this spirit, the interim Bangsamoro parliament passed a resolution expressing full support for the passage of measures now pending before Congress seeking to establish, yet again, an autonomous region in the Cordillera (ARC).
The current cause for Cordillera autonomy is contained in House Bill No. 5687 filed by All seven Cordillera representatives and Senate Bill No. 1232 filed by Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri.
The 1987 Constitution provides for the creation of autonomous regions in Muslim Mindanao and in the Cordilleras.
In the resolution, Bangsamoro parliament members said they believe that “the Cordillera’s pursuit of autonomy also deserves the same amount of attention and support as that of the Bangsamoro.”
The resolution was introduced by parliaments members Baintan Adil-Ampatuan, Jose Lorena, Laisa Alamia, Rasol Mitmug Jr., Suharto Ambolodto, Don Mustapha Loong, Amir Mawallil, Rasul Ismael, and Lanang Ali Jr.
During the plenary deliberation on the measure, Mohagher Iqbal, who is also the Bangsamoro’s education minister, expressed the desire to co-author the resolution.
Iqbal used to head the Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s panel in the long and arduous negotiations with the government to gain greater self-governance powers.
When the Bangsamoro Organic Law was still pending in Congress, the Regional Development Council of the Cordillera Administrative Region issued a resolution expressing support for the passage of the Moro autonomy law.
“It is now our turn to support the bid of the people of the Cordilleras for their autonomous region,” Ampatuan said.
The Cordilleras included the provinces of Abra, Apayao, Benguet, Mountain Province, Ifugao and Kalinga, and the City of Baguio.
Two plebiscites were held in the past but votes against full Cordillera autonomy overwhelmed votes in favor of it.
In the first, on January 30, 1990, Ifugao was the lone province to vote for self-rule. In the second, on March 7, 1998, only Apayao province chose autonomy.
COTABATO CITY –– An experienced executive of the defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) has assumed the post as member of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA), the interim government of the Bangsamoro region.
President Duterte appointed Maranao lawyer Rasol Mitmug Jr., last Sept. 6. Mitmug took his oath before the President on Sept. 17.
Late last week, Mitmug entered his appearance before the BTA as its newest member, bringing to only two seats the vacancy in the 80-member interim body that will hold office until mid-2022, when the duly elected members assume office.
Before his appointment as BTA member, Mitmug, a native of Lumba Bayabao, Lanao del Sur, held many posts in the ARMM.
He served as ARMM’s last secretary of education before it was deemed dissolved with the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law last January.
Mitmug was also speaker of the 7th Regional Legislative Assembly; deputy executive secretary of the regional governor; chief of staff to former ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman; acting secretary of the region’s social welfare and development department; and officer-in-charge of the regional Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.
Before his ARMM stint, Mitmug was a consultant for ARMM in the office of Senator Teofisto Guingona III.
He was deputy executive director of the nongovernment Mindanao Human Rights Action Center before joining the government.
Mitmug thanked Duterte for the opportunity to serve the Bangsamoro region.
The BTA meets every Wednesday to Friday of the third and fourth weeks of the month.
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