GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 9 August) –The appointment of Cardinal Orlando Quevedo to the Council of Leaders of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) “shows that the leadership of the BARMM seriously walks its talk on moral governance” and “proves it is inclusive,” the chair of the Mindanao Peoples Caucus (MPC) said.
Bringing in Quevedo to advise the Chief Minister is very consistent with the avowed mission to promote moral governance in the Bangsamoro, MPC chair Hussein Akmad said in a statement Tuesday, adding it sends an “unequivocal message that the BARMM is resolute in enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong in the way autonomy is exercised in the Bangsamoro.”
Quevedo, however, was unable to attend the inaugural meeting of the Council of Leaders at the Soto Grande Hotel on Wednesday in Davao City as he had to attend the ASEAN Intercultural and Inter-Religious Dialogue Conference for Harmony and Peace on August 7 and 8 in Jakarta. Quevedo spoke about peacebuilding in the BARMM as a panelist there last Monday.
Akmad noted that moral governance, as defined in Bangsamoro Autonomy Act No. 13 or the Bangsamoro Administrative Code, refers to “the set of rules, practices, and processes completely devoid of all the evils of graft and corruption, and explicitly driven by the moral principles of utmost dedication, devotion, honesty, justice, and integrity.”
Under Article VI Section 9 of the Bangsamoro Organic Law, the Council of Leaders shall advise the Chief Minister on matters of governance. The Chief Minister heads the Council whose members are provincial governors, mayors of chartered cities and congressional representatives in the region and community and sectoral representatives.
BARMM has six provinces (Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi), three cities (Marawi, Lamitan and Cotabato), and the Special Geographic Area in North Cotabato consisting of 63 barangays in six towns. The region has eight congressional districts.
The Council’s other members are representatives of traditional leaders, non-Moro indigenous communities, women, settler communities, the Ulama, youth, and Bangsamoro communities outside of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region; and representatives of other sectors. For these sectors, the mechanism of representation and number of representatives “shall be determined by the Parliament.” The representation of the non-Moro indigenous communities in the Council of Leaders “shall be pursuant to their customary laws and indigenous processes.”
Member of Parliament Mary Ann Arnado, former MPC secretary general, thanked Quevedo for accepting the appointment and taking the extra mile, “not only to support, but to be with the Bangsamoro people, at this most critical juncture of the extended transition period.”
Cardinal Quevedo is a staunch supporter of the peace process and has played an instrumental role in fostering a dialogue of life and faith between Muslims and Christians in Mindanao, she said
Born in Ilocos Norte, Quevedo grew up and studied until high school in Marbel (now Koronadal City), South Cotabato in the early 1950’s.
He worked as a priest-educator in Cotabato City for 12 years, a parish priest in Jolo for almost two years, Bishop of Kidapawan for six years, and Archbishop of Cotabato from 1998 to 2018.
Quevedo served as President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines from 1999 to 2003, and President of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) from 2005 to 2011. (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews with a report from Carolyn O. Arguillas)