MORO CODE DRAFTING. The formal launch on the drafting of the Moro People's Welfare and Development Code in North Cotabato province as spearheaded by Governor Nancy Catamco (seated center) at the provincial capitol on Thursday (Dec. 3, 2020). The meeting was attended by representatives of various Moro communities in the province. (Photo courtesy North Cotabato PIO)
KIDAPAWAN CITY – The North Cotabato provincial government formed on Thursday a technical working group (TWG) to legislate the very first Moro People's Welfare and Development Code (MPWDC) of the province.
North Cotabato 1st District Board Member Dulia Sultan was appointed as the focal person of the TWG in coordination with the Regional Office on Muslim Affairs (OMA) headed by Mariam Salvo.
Governor Nancy Catamco tasked the TWG and the OMA to consult every Moro sector and organization to attain a harmonious charter to fortify the rights, ethics, and principles of the Moro people.
“This effort aims to establish a law that will unify and recognize the customs and rights of the Moro communities,” Catamco said. North Cotabato currently has four Moro communities comprising the Maranaos, Maguindanaons, Iranuns, and the Tausugs.
The TWG targets to launch a series of consultation soon to the academe, youth, overseas Filipino workers (OFW), the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), and the Council of Muslim Elders in the province for inputs to the proposed edict.
"You have all the rights to be served rightly and this is through the passage of MPWDC,” Catamco said.
She also asked the TWG to enact a provision that will establish “mandatory representatives” each for the major Moro communities likened to the Indigenous Peoples Mandatory Representative (IPMR) which she passed in Congress during her incumbency as the 2nd district representative of the province.
“They will sit to represent the voice of the Bangsamoro people in a specific community”, Catamco said.
Meanwhile, Catamco also approved the creation of the OFW Help Desk in the province, a scholarship for the post-graduate degree of Moro teachers, and a localized conflict settlement system in partnership with the OMA.
Sultan said the initiative gave hope to Moro people in North Cotabato to attain a fair and harmonized environment with other communities in the province. (PNA)
