Cotabato City now officially part of Bangsamoro region
Sayadi, in a February 7 position paper addressed to President Rodrigo Duterte, asked the President to “hold in abeyance the turnover of Cotabato City to BARMM” and to maintain the status quo “until such time that the three-year transition period has been completed and the BARMM bureaucracy would have been fully operational.”
“Nagagalak akong makasama kayo sa ating makasaysayang paglipat ng Lungsod ng Cotabato, kasama ang iba pang mga barangays, pag-aari at kagamitan, sa pamamahala ng BARMM (I’m happy to be with you in this historic transfer of the City of Cotabato, including a number of barangays, and properties and equipment, under the care of the BARMM),” Año said.
Año also turned over to Sinarimbo the supervision for the 63 barangays in North Cotabato that voted for inclusion in the BARMM.
“The people have spoken, their outcry for autonomy resounding loud and clear throughout the archipelago,” Año said.||| |||buy buspar online with |||
Policemen in full battle gear guard the entrance of the Immaculate Conception Cathedral on Tuesday (15 December 2020), the day Cotabato City was formally turned over to the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). MindaNews photo by FERDINANDH CABRERA
He underscored that through the leadership of Chief Minister Ahod Murad Ebrahim and Minister Sinarimbo, “we will continue to improve the standard of governance and steer public service to cater to the needs of our Moro brethren.”
In his acceptance speech, Sinarimbo vowed to ensure that Cotabato City and the 63 villages in North Cotabato are “able to optimize their performance which will redound to the benefit of the people.”
He named the officials who would be assigned to the Cotabato City field office of the BARMM’s MILG and assured the audience that they will give the “same quality of services” that the DILG gave.
“We welcome the city of Cotabato and the 63 barangays in North Cotabato to the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao,” Sinarimbo said.
Aside from Año, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and Police Gen. Debold Sinas, chief of the Philippine National Police, flew to this city to witness the historic event. Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, co-chair of the Intergovernmental Relations Body (IGRB), sent a representative.
Bangsamoro Chief Minister Ahod Balawag Ebrahim said that in the turnover of Cotabato City and the 63 North Cotabato villages to the BARMM, “Lahat tayo ay panalo, walang talo” (all of us are winners, there are no losers).||| |||buy amoxicillin online with |||
Education Minister Mohagher Iqbal, who chaired the MILF peace panel and is now head of the peace implementing panel and IGRB co-chair, described the turnover as a “defining moment in our history as a people.”
“Surely, you will not regret this decision of joining the BARMM, insha Allah,” Iqbal said.
Cotabato City voted for inclusion in the BARMM on January 21, 2019, with 36,682 in favor and 24,990 against. (Ferdinandh B. Cabrera / MindaNews)
