The city of Cotabato formally joins the Bangsamoro government

MANILA – The national government handed over supervision of the city of Cotabato to the Bangsamoro government on Tuesday, nearly two years since more than half of its residents voted to include the city in the Bangsamoro region.

Bangsamoro Prime Minister Ahod “Al-Haj Murad” Ebrahim “welcomed home” to the city that had previously chosen not to be part of the autonomous region.

“We are committed to expanding services that can further boost the potential of the city of Cotabato, unique with its own context and in support of its existing resources,” he said in a statement on December 12.

“We will ensure that the development of BARMM resonates in the city, being its administrative capital, and we celebrate the diversity it has without any constituency being left behind, regardless of faith, ethnicity or affiliation.

The supervision of the city, along with that of the 63 barangays in the north of Cotabato, was formally handed over to the Ministry of the Interior and Local Government of the Government of Bangsamoro, in a ceremony attended by the Secretary of the Interior, Eduardo Año, the Secretary of Defense, Delfin Lorenzana, the Chief of the Philippine National Police. Gen. Debold Sinas.

“Through BARMM’s leadership under Prime Minister Ahod Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, ably advised by MILG Minister Naguib Sinarimbo, we will continue to improve the standard of governance and direct public service to meet the needs of our Moro brothers. This will allow that the locations in BARMM to find success and see the boom in investment, tourism and trade in the region, “Year said at the billing ceremony.

The mayor of the city of Cotabato, Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi, had said that residents had complained about delays in the salaries of teachers and health workers, as the Bangsamoro Transitional Authority sought to extend the interim period by another 3 years from 2022.

He previously opposed the integration of the city of Cotabato, an independent city geographically located in the Maguindanao province but which used to belong to the Soccsksargen, in the autonomous region of Bangsamoro in Muslim Mindanao.

He had filed a petition with the Supreme Court questioning the results of the plebiscite.

The city of Cotabato, home to some 310,000 people as projected for this year by the Statistics Authority of the Philippines, is the third city of the BARMM, which replaced the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) after the ratification of the Organic Law. from Bangsamoro in January 2019.

The law sought to implement the 2014 peace accord between the government and the formerly secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front to end a protracted war in the southern Philippines that has left around 120,000 dead.

The city was the regional administrative headquarters of the ARMM but was not part of it due to its vote of non-inclusion in the plebiscites of 1989 and 2001.

BARMM is made up of the provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi; and the city of Cotabato and 63 barangays in northern Cotabato.