In observance of the Holy Week, the Philippine News Agency’s online news service will be off on March 29, Good Friday, and March 30, Black Saturday. Normal operations will resume on March 31, Easter Sunday.

— The Editors

BARMM calls off resumption of parliament sessions

By Edwin Fernandez

April 2, 2020, 6:00 pm

<p><strong>NO SESSION.</strong> Empty seats at the Bangsamoro Transition Authority-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BTA-BARMM) session hall inside Shariff Kabunsuan Complex, the provisional seat of the BARMM in Cotabato City on Thursday (April 2, 2020) due to continuing threats of the coronavirus diseases 2019. The BTA–BARMM says it will resume its sessions when there is a green light from the regional inter-agency task force on Covid-19. <em>(Photo courtesy of BTA-BARMM)</em></p>

NO SESSION. Empty seats at the Bangsamoro Transition Authority-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BTA-BARMM) session hall inside Shariff Kabunsuan Complex, the provisional seat of the BARMM in Cotabato City on Thursday (April 2, 2020) due to continuing threats of the coronavirus diseases 2019. The BTA–BARMM says it will resume its sessions when there is a green light from the regional inter-agency task force on Covid-19. (Photo courtesy of BTA-BARMM)

COTABATO CITY – With the rising number of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases across the country, the Bangsamoro Transition Authority–Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BTA-BARMM) has decided to forego the conduct of regular sessions until notice.

The regular session of the BTA, the provisional lawmaking body of BARMM, was expected to resume Thursday after a three-week break.

“We opted to postpone our scheduled resumption of the regular session today (Thursday) to help prevent the spread of coronavirus," BTA–BARMM speaker Pangalian Balindong said in a radio interview.

He added that the suspension of BTA sessions is in compliance with the guidelines set by the Covid-19 Inter-Agency Task Force in the BARMM to take preemptive measures against the spread of the deadly disease.

“The BARMM Covid-19 task force earlier said that all activities involving mass gathering shall be canceled or postponed until further notice and we will abide by that,” Balindong said.

Balindong said parliament will resume its regular session once the situation in the city and the region returns to normal. (PNA)

Comments