“In shaa Allah (God willing), within a month, we will get it done.”
— Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri
By EDD K. USMAN
Twitter: @edd1819, Instagram: @bluestar0910, Facebook: SDN — Science, Digital & Current
Short URL: https://wp.me/paaccn-blt
MANILA/COTABATO CITY (SDN/BIO – Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri has assured the passage of an Upper Chamber bill postponing — and extending — to May 2025 the elections in the Bangsamoro region.
The senator from Southern Philippines spoke at the Bangsamoro Governance Summit 2021 organized on Friday, July 23, by the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
He gave a month’s time for the legislative measure’s making it pass the Senate legislative mill as it is now in the final stages.
“We, in the Senate, are in the final stages of passing the bill postponing the BARMM elections,” Zubiri announced at the summit.
“In shaa Allah (God willing), within a month, we will get it done,” he assured in his remarks, referring to Senate Bill (SB) No. 2214.
In the House of Representatives a proposed bill is also in the works with the same objective, though it’s still in early deliberation.
It can be recalled the leadership and officials and employees of the regional government, created through Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) based largely on the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), have asked for an extension of the three-year Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) for another three years to give additional time to fully implement the BTA’s mission and objectives.
Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Chairman Ahod Balawag “Al-Hajj Murad” Ebrahim is head as interim chief minister of the BTA, the interim body running the BARMM.
Interior Minister and BARMM Spokesman Naguib G. Sinarimbo described the summit as “the culmination of the provincial consultations/pre-summit activities in the provinces and the Special Geographic Area (SGA) of the BARMM and participated in by the Governors, Mayors, Regional officials, and development partners in order to achieve convergence and complementation in our programs, projects and resources.”
He declared the event a success.
At the summit, Zubiri, one of the staunchest supporters of the Mindanao peace process, said the regional elections’ postponement will give more time to the BTA to fulfill its mandated duties designed to achieve elusive peace and prosperity in the Bangsamoro region.
Senators had already tackled the bill on second reading in June.
At the Lower House of Congress the congressmen are expected to continue deliberations on their own bill.
Once passed into law, the region’s transition period will be extended for another three years. The bill aims to provide enough time for the interim government to accomplish the transition requirements cited in the BOL, including the passage of the six priority legislation.
Ebrahim emphasizes need for more time
Three of the six codes — administrative, civil service and education code — were already approved in the Bangsamoro Parliament.
But there are also other key legislations, such as the local government, electoral, and revenue codes which are currently in the appropriate committees and are ready to be presented in the plenary.
Ebrahim acknowledged that many things still have to done which required a longer period.
“We still need to do a lot more and we need more time. It is along these lines in which strong partnership between the Bangsamoro government and local government units (LGUs) is of high importance,” the chief minister pointed out.
Ebrahim and Speaker Ali Pangalian Balindong of the Parliament share the belief that the promotion of moral governance and priority projects to be implemented within the region can be accomplished given enough time.
During this year’s governance summit, Zubiri assured the Bangsamoro people that he would provide all the help he can give to the region.
“I am always here as your ally, a fellow Mindanaoan who believes in the just and lasting peace that you are all striving for,” he said.
Meanwhile, Senator Christopher “Bong” Go has voiced his support and admiration for the BTA.
“I, together with President (Rodrigo) Duterte, will continue to extend our full support to the BARMM as it undertakes endeavors for the Bangsamoro people,” he said in his address to the Bangsamoro read by Secretary Salvador Panelo, chief presidential legal counsel.
“Mahal po namin kayo mga kapatid naming Muslim at Mindanaoan. Hinding hindi namin kayo pababayaan ni Pangulong Duterte, ipaglalaban namin ang inyong mga karapatan at kapakanan upang mabigyan kayo ng mas mapayapa, maginhawa at komportableng buhay para sa inyong komunidad,” Go assured.
(We love you our Muslim and Mindanaoan brothers and sisters. President Duterte and I will not forsake you, we will fight for your rights and welfare to give you and your community a more peaceful and comfortable life.)
Some leaders from the tri-people of Mindanao — Christian, Muslim, and Lumad — as well as Mindanao-based civil society organizations (CSOs) strongly endorsed the extension of the BTA transition period.
The BARMM abolished and replaced the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) after the enactment in 2019 of the BOL, the BARMM Charter.(SDN/Publication and Media Relations Division) — (✓)