Former Lanao solon now BARMM parliament speaker

COTABATO CITY –- A veteran lawmaker from Lanao del Sur was elected Thursday afternoon by the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) as the interim Bangsamoro Authonomour Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) parliament speaker.

The election of lawyer Pangalian Balindong, former deputy House speaker for Mindanao, came ahead of today’s inaugural session with President Duterte in attendance.

Balindong, appointed to the BTA from the MILF bloc, will lead the parliament until a new set of lawmakers shall have been elected in 2022.

Before his election, Balindong was deputy speaker of the BARRM parliament with Ghadzali Jaafar of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) as its speaker. But Jaafar died two weeks ago due to a heart ailment.

During the special caucus of the BTA, Balindong was unanimously voted upon by parliament members.

The MILF has 41 representatives to the 80-member BTA that will work as the legislative body of the expanded political entity that came into being as a result of the government and MILF peace process.

Elected as interim parliament deputy speaker was Hatimil Hassan from Basilan while lawyer Laisa Alamia was chosen as the minority floor leader.

Maguindanao lawyer Lanang Ali Jr. was the majority floor leader while Raby Angkal and Dan Dimakenal shall sit as the secretary-general and sergeant-at-arms, respectively, of the BARMM parliament./lzb