Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said on Friday that “things are on track and proceeding as planned” in setting up various institutional mechanisms for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), adding that the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte is fully committed to bringing lasting peace and development to Mindanao.
Nograles, co-chair of the Inter-Cabinet Cluster Mechanism on Normalization (ICCMN) which monitors and oversees the progress of implementing the transition to a fully autonomous Bangsamoro region, cited the fast-tracking of efforts to establish BARMM offices for youth, women, settler communities, disaster risk reduction management, planning and development, and the attorney general.
“The Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP) and the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) signed a MOA recently and partnered to form the core agencies of BARMM. We’re confident that with DAP’s guidance and expertise, these governance initiatives will turn out robust and responsive,” the Cabinet Secretary said.
Last June, Nograles announced the decommissioning of 12,000 former Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) combatants as a key component of the normalization and transition process.
MILF soldiers would slowly give up their weapons and ease into civilian life, with programs waiting to transform them into productive members of their local communities.
According to Nograles, these former troops and their families are expected to receive housing, livelihood assistance, skills development training, scholarships, employment opportunities, Philhealth coverage, conditional cash transfers and documentation such as birth certificates and postal IDs.
“We’re being thorough in our preparations, addressing both grassroots and upper level management challenges. We’re way past the experiment stage as far as Bangsamoro autonomy is concerned and our goal is to make everything work and succeed.”
President Duterte directed the appropriate officials a month ago to hasten the implementation of the BARMM’s realization.
“Our President, being from Mindanao, considers Muslim autonomy a crucial factor in the region’s development that’s why he’s prioritizing this matter,” explained Nograles, himself a former three-term representative from Mindanao.(PR)
