Murad approves of Piñol’s designation as Duterte’s ‘point man’ in BARMM

MANILA, Philippines — Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) interim chief minister Murad Ebrahim approves the reassignment of Agriculture chief Manny Piñol as President Rodrigo Duterte’s “point man” in the region.

Duterte met with Murad in Malacañang on Wednesday night.

Asked by reporters if Murad is okay with Piñol’s designation, Duterte said: “Yes.”

Some Moro leaders earlier raised doubts on Piñol, pointing out his role in the junking of the memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain (MOA-AD) in 2008.

MOA-AD is the planned homeland also referred to as the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE), which was a product of the peace agreement between the government and the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The deal did not materialize after it faced strong opposition.

READ: What Went Before: The proposed MOA-AD 

READ: Moro leaders wary of Piñol as Duterte point man

Duterte previously announced the reassignment of Piñol to Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) to help speed up the devolution of all national government agencies as he found the BARMM too slow.

During the meeting in Malacañang, Duterte said he and Murad “were trying to fine tune” the BARMM, which was created when the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) was enacted into law.

BOL is a product of the peace agreement between the government and the MILF.

Duterte believes that Piñol, who grew up in Mindanao, can help the new region because he believes the progress being made by the Bangsamoro Transition Authority too slow. Last June 25, he told the BTA to “hurry up” and cited a supposed communication “breakdown” between him and its leaders. /ee