TURNOVER. Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Chief Minster (4th from left) accepts the symbolic key from North Cotabato Vice Governor Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza during the turnover ceremony held at Shariff Kabunsuan Complex in Cotabato City on Wednesday (Nov. 20, 2019) of which the 63 villages of the province now form part of the fledging Bangsamoro political entity. The villages opted to join the BARMM during a plebiscite held in February this year. (Photo by PNA Cotabato)
COTABATO CITY -- Sixty-three villages in North Cotabato province that have opted to join the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) are now officially part of the fledging Bangsamoro entity.
This came about after North Cotabato Vice Governor Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza, acting provincial governor, led other provincial officials in handing over the 63 villages to BARMM Chief Minister Ahod “Murad “Ibrahim in a turnover ceremony held at the Shariff Kabunsuan Complex here on Wednesday.
“Please take care of our 63 barangays,” an emotional Mendoza told Ebrahim during the turnover rites highlighted by the passing of a symbolic key between the two officials.
The 63 villages opted to join BARMM during a plebiscite held in February this year.
“To the 63 villages, I hope and pray that your transfer to BARMM would further lead to peace and unity in this part of the country,” Mendoza said.
Ebrahim described the event as a new chapter in the once-solid Cotabato “empire” that stretches as far as South Cotabato and Sarangani provinces.
“Today, we see a bridge that reconnects the 63 barangays to its Bangsamoro homeland. Today is all about the people,” he said.
Ebrahim added that before the symbolic turnover, the Bangsamoro people had to go for almost two decades of peace negotiations with the national government, but on a recent note, experiencing the challenges on running a legitimate regional government.
The BARMM is the product of more than two decades of peace negotiations by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, formerly the largest Moro rebel group in Mindanao, with the government.
President Rodrigo Duterte signed the Bangsamoro Organic Law on July 26, 2018, that paved the way for the formation, through a two-part plebiscite earlier this year, of the expanded BARMM that replaced the decades-old Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
The new BARMM entity covers the provinces of Maguindanao, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Basilan, and Lanao del Sur; the cities of Lamitan, Marawi, and Cotabato, and the 63 villages in six towns of North Cotabato.
Of the 63 villages, 13 are from the town of Midsayap; Carmen, seven; Pigcawayan, 12; Kabacan, seven; Pikit, 22; and Aleosan, two.
“To our dear brothers and sisters from the 63 barangays, thank you for believing in us and thank you for believing in the Bangsamoro cause. It is my honor to welcome all of you to the BARMM and to welcome all of you — home,” Ebrahim said. (PNA)
