By Teng Lauban Datu
Cotabato City Bureau Chief .
COTABATO City — The leadership of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA), the interim government of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Barmm), promised to deliver good governance in the new Bangsamoro government following their assumption into office on Tuesday.
Murad Ebrahim Al Haj, chair of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) who was appointed by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte as the interim Chief Minister of the Barmm, vowed to eradicate the culture of corruption and sustain the gains of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm) in recent years.
“The trust and responsibility is now in our hands,” he said as he led the 80-member BTA in the ceremonial handover event at the Shariff Kabunsuan Cultural Complex inside the Armm Compound.
“We are accountable to it, to Allah, and our fellow Bangsamoro,” he added.
Murad summarized the main agenda of the interim government to ensure the delivery of services to the Moro and non-Moro people residing in the Barmm.
“Our government shall take responsibility for the education of our children. Our government shall take responsibility for the health of our constituents. Our government shall take responsibility for the economic development of our region. Our government shall take responsibility for the infrastructure development of our areas. I shall be responsible for leading a morally upright bureaucracy,” he said, generating thunderous applause from the audience.
The Barmm is composed of the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, and the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-tawi. The autonomous region’s territory has expanded to include the city of Cotabato and 63 villages in North Cotabato province following the plebiscites in these areas.
To show their sincerity, Murad announced that all BTA members will take their oath on the Holy Quran aside from the oath they took in Malacañan Palace last Friday.
Murad said the Bangsamoro people are now entering a new struggle, which is to instill the culture of good governance in the autonomous region.
“Our enemy during this struggle are not the soldiers. Our enemy is not the government. Our enemy is oppression, our enemy is exploitation, our enemies are those anti-people,” he said.
“We are now entering another level of Jihad. Our Jihad will be more intense and more challenging. Our Jihad, firstly, will be against our own self… Our enemy is graft and corruption. Our enemy is manipulation of the government. Our enemy is nepotism. Our enemy is all those ills of the government,” he added.
The establishment of the Barmm is the result of the successful ratifications of the Bangsamoro Organic Law — the legal document operationalizing the provisions of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro, including all the previous peace agreements that the government has entered into with the Moro fronts.
Armm Governor Mujiv Hataman said he is elated at bowing down from the office since he is leaving a more developed Armm. (with reports from opapp)
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