By Genalyn Kabiling
A Cabinet-level committee has been created to help build the government structure of the new Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), President Duterte announced Tuesday.
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte
(KING RODRIGUEZ/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
The President has tapped a few Cabinet members to assist the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) led by chief minister Murad Ebrahim during their meeting in Malacañang Tuesday.
"I had the meeting with the BARMM, sila Murad. Maraming problema," he said at the start of his speech during the oath-taking of new government officials at the Palace.
"I formed a committee of just a few members of the Cabinet to assist them in building the structure of a BARMM government," he said in a later interview with reporters.
Duterte said they tackled concerns of the Bangsamoro region, including the financial requirements of the regional government, during the meeting.
"Well una is the prompt remittance of their money, because they have to operate also just like any government office you have to have money to buy supplies, to pay the employees," he said.
He said they also discussed the need for "additional officials for liaisoning" between the national government and the BARMM government.
In a bid to improve the lives of people in the new autonomous region in the south, the President earlier urged the BTA to hasten the establishment of a regional government. He pushed for the organization of the government structure in the autonomous region following the ratification of the Bangsamoro law.
The law creating the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) with larger territory and greater fiscal powers has finally been passed and ratified after two decades of peace negotiations.
Recently, the President transferred Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol to head the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) to help spur the socio-economic development of the Bangsamoro region.
Piñol will serve as his point man to coordinate the national government with the caretaker government of the Bangsamoro entity.