By Ali Macabalang
COTABATO CITY – The implementing panels of the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) turned over the proposed Transition Plan to the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) in a symbolic ceremony here Wednesday.
BTA Interim Chief Minister Ahod "Murad" Ebrahim received the document, which he said will be further enhanced by his regional cabinet’s technical group as a working draft in the transformation of the defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) to the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
Ebrahim said the Proposed Transition Plan will serve as a working draft which will be reviewed and improved by the Technical Working Group created by the Regional Cabinet.
He thanked the Coordination Team for the Transition (CT4T) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for the technical assistance and resources they extended to the BTA.
The proposed Transition Plan was crafted by the CT4T and submitted to the GPH and MILF Implementing Panels chaired by Minister Mohagher Iqbal and Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Executive Director Gloria Jumamil-Mercado.
The plan includes the critical priority codes that the BTA should legislate, electoral, local government, education, administrative, revenue and civil service codes.
A statement from the GPH-MILF panels said the plan was “crucial for the codes to be passed into law to provide the necessary structure when crafting (the BARMM) budget for the next fiscal year, and the usage of the block grant.
Among the main priority programs of the BTA are education, health, and sanitation, food security, environment protection, among others.
Iqbal described the completion of the plan as another milestone in the Bangsamoro Peace Process.
He said he was hopeful "the chief minister will find it (proposed Transition Plan) valuable and useful in establishing a government structure that is ethical, inclusive, dutiful to the needs of the constituency it vowed to protect and serve."
For his part, Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity Carlito G. Galvez, Jr. said the proposed plan embodies the parties' commitment to utilize the appropriate processes and mechanisms to ensure the efficient transition from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao government to the BTA.
"We hope that the interest of the people, the reform in the Bangsamoro, and collaborative engagement among various agencies both at the regional and national level be given utmost priority as we implement the transition plan," he said.