CITING a clamor for an extended transition period prior to full autonomy in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), Senator Francis Tolentino asked lawmakers to pass the remedial legislation needed to reset the BARMM elections from 2022 to 2025, effectively granting its current officials a three-year term extension.
In endorsing the enabling bills for plenary approval, Tolentino, who chairs the Senate Committee on Local Government, said the extension is needed “to achieve peace and normalization in BARMM.”
The senator stressed the need for the three-year transition in the BARMM in order to implement peace-building and normalization efforts embodied in the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), citing companion bills filed seeking extension of the transition period until 2025 by amending the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL).
“The measure aims to postpone the first general elections in BARMM and allow the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BAO) to continue its program towards normalization,” he said.
In his sponsorship speech on the remedial legislation on Thursday, Tolentino recalled that other senators sitting in the panel “also saw the need to extend the BARMM transition period in order to carry out what has been adopted in the CAB.”
He reported that although the interim Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) exceeded its target of generating P2.3 billion worth of investment projects by 180 percent in the BARMM Region, “the global coronavirus pandemic posed significant challenges on the accomplishment of the priority programs and projects of the transitory body for the last two years.”
Moreover, Tolentino acknowledged that development projects in the region had to take a backseat to the formulation and implementation of an effective response to the global health crisis.
He recalled that the interim Bangsamoro government took up the “unprecedented challenge” to respond to the public health crisis and lead recovery plans in the region despite the “radical uncertainty brought about by the pandemic.”