by Edwin Fernandez/PNA
President Rodrigo Duterte is scheduled to attend the inaugural session of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) parliament on March 25, the office of the BARMM chief minister said Monday.
In a statement, Interim Minister Murad Ebrahim said that March 25 is the only available time for President Duterte to attend the event.
“The President has expressed his desire to grace the first session of BARMM parliament,” he said. The regional parliament’s inaugural assembly would be held at the Shariff Kabunsuan Cultural Center inside the BARMM compound here.
In a meeting on February 27, the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA), the body that facilitates the transition from ARMM to BARMM, agreed to hold the inaugural session on March 21.
However, the Office of the President told Minister Ebrahim that the President’s available time is on March 25, hence the schedule was moved.
Malacañang released late last month the 76 appointment papers of BTA members, as well the appointment paper naming Ebrahim as the interim Chief Minister.
Of this number, one of them recently died from a lingering illness.
Ghazali Jaafar, first Vice Chair of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a newly-appointed member of the BTA and nominated speaker of the BARMM parliament, died from an internal organ complication at a hospital in Davao City last March 13.
Jaafar’s deputy, former Lanao Representative Pangalian Balindong, will take his place.
