BARMM News
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COTABATO CITY (SDN) — Bangsamoro Chief Minister Ahod Balawag “Al-Hajj Murad” Ebrahim has made it a policy to regularly update military officers and political leaders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
In the course of the lifespan of the governance of the MILF chaired by Ebrahim since February 2019, the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) has been conducting consultations and dialogues with the leaders of the MILF, particularly its military commanders, political officers, and members.
Apparently, one of the major the objectives of the meetings and updates is to let them know they are not being left behind.
Recall that the commanders and their men are key players in the Normalization Track of the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB). The Normalization Track (CAB’s Annex on Normalization) covers the decommissioning of the combatants and weapons of the MILF, which fought for a separate independent Islamic state, but agreed to scale the demand down to a stronger and more meaningful autonomy.
Bangsamoro region has landlocked and island provinces
Thus, BARMM, a new political entity (NPE) created through the 2018 Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) enacted to implement the CAB signed by the Philippine government and the MILF. It ended the over 40 years old Mindanao conflict after a protracted peace negotiations spanning 17 years.
Lawyer Naguib G. Sinarimbo, who heads the Ministry of the Interior and Local Government (MILF), one of the BARMM primary agencies, said the other day they conducted another meeting with commanders of the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (MILF-BIAF) in North Cotabato.
“We conducted a consultation/Dialogue in Kadigasan, Midsayap, with our BIAF Commanders and Political Committee Chairs in the Midsayap cluster pursuant to the directive of the Chief Minister Al-Hajj Murad Ebrahim to assist in the resolution of the peace and order problem in the Aleosan-Pikit areas and to inform our people of the development in the SGA now headed by our Administrator Butch Malang,” said Simarimbo, also the spokesperson of BARMM.
The “SGA” referenced by the MILG minister is the Special Geographic Area under the jurisdiction of the Bangsamoro government located in the province of North Cotabato.
Comprising the BARMM are the provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi, the cities of Cotabato, Lamitan, and Marawi, as well as the 63 SGA villages that voted “yes” in a plebiscite in January and February 2019 to be under BARMM jurisdiction.
The BARMM population per the Philippine Atlas has 4,404,288 people. It has 116 municipalities: Basilan, 11 municipalities; Lanao del Sur, 39; Maguindanao, 36; Sulu, 19; and Tawi-Tawi, 11. Its component cities are Cotabato (the regional center and capital) in Maguindanao; Lamitan in Basilan; and Marawi in Lanao del Sur.
The MILG has been playing a key role in the organizing and conduct of the meetings with the BIAF commanders and its political officers.
“We thank our commanders, barangay officials and other members of the MILF for honoring us with their presence, said Sinarimbo. (✓)