Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 12) — Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Chief Minister Ahod “Al Haj Murad” Ebrahim on Saturday welcomed Cotabato City, as it is set to formally join the region in a turnover ceremony on December 15.
“We are committed to upscaling services that can further boost the potential of Cotabato City, unique with its own context and in support to its existing resources,” said Ebrahim in a statement. “Welcome home, Cotabato City.”
The minister also acknowledged that not everyone agreed with the result of the plebiscite that voted for the city to be part of BARMM.
“Continuing the lines of division, however, will not help us in making our collective aspirations a reality,” he said. “As such there is a need for all of us, to come together as one community dedicated to the city’s collective advancement.”
BARRM Interior and Local Government Minister Naguib Sinarimbo later said he also met with Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, who told him he will be attending the ceremony as well.
In January 2019, 36,683 residents of Cotabato City in a plebiscite voted “yes” for the city’s inclusion in the Bangsamoro region while 24,994 voted “no”. Cotabato mayor Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi has since been openly questioning the result. She claimed that a conspiracy took place involving the Moro Islamic Liberation Front to ensure the “yes” vote’s victory, but the military that time downplayed the allegations.
The Bangsamoro Organic Law that was ratified in 2019 abolished the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and replaced it with the BARMM, a new autonomous political entity with more power, including its own parliament. The creation of the BARMM has raised hopes that the Bangsamoro will have a chance at genuine self-governance that it has been fighting for decades.
The Bangsamoro Transition Authority recently adopted a resolution urging the House and Senate to extend the transition period from 2022 to 2025 to give them more time to put in place the normalization and peace-keeping process.
