BARMM gets Palace support

PRESIDENT Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has promised that his administration will continue its support of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) as he recognized the important work the interim government needs to complete in three years.

Speaking before the newly sworn-in members of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) Malacañang on Friday, August 12, Marcos acknowledged the “great deal of work” that the body should accomplish in three years, from enacting basic laws and fiscal policy to conducting elections.

“Such important laws to be passed in three years is not an easy task, and that’s why I will be here as head of the national government to support BARMM,” he said.

The President also noted how the Covid-19 pandemic made it “very, very difficult” for the BTA to do its work.

“We are given another chance because of the extension of the Transition Authority. We are given another chance, but we have three years, and three years is not a long time for this rather basic and fundamental and highly important piece of legislation that has to be produced now by the Transition Authority,” he said.

Marcos further underscored the need to complete the work in 2025, as there will no longer be any extensions.

“In 2025, we no longer will have any extensions to the authority, and we will conduct elections,” he added.

Republic Act 11593 reset the first regular elections in BARMM and would now be synchronized with the 2025 national elections.

The law also extended the transition period and allowed the BTA to continue as the interim government in the region. It also mandated the President to appoint 80 new members who shall serve up to June 2025.

Meanwhile, Marcos underscored the importance of representation in the BTA.

The new BTA composition is dominated by MILF with 41 nominees and 39 from the government.

The majority of their workforce are lawyers, lawyer-certified public accountants, engineers, teachers, doctors, architects, media practitioners, politicians, former elected officials at the local levels, and government bureaucrats.

They are the representatives from the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, Sulu, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi, as well as members of the Bangsamoro community in North Cotabato, Indigenous peoples who are not Moro, the Kalagan or Kagan community in Davao Oriental, and Christian or settler communities in Davao City and Cotabato City.