COTABATO CITY——Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Carlito Galvez Jr. lauded the interim Bangsamoro government for finally coming up with it’s own administrative code.
“Having its own administrative code will now enable the Bangsamoro government to strengthen its political structures, systems and mechanisms, and consequently, result in a more inclusive, transparent and responsive bureaucracy in accordance with the Chief Minister’s focus on moral governance,” Galvez said in a statement on Friday.
He vowed that “the Duterte administration shall continue to help capacitate the BARMM [Bangsamoro Autonomous Government in Muslim Mindanao] Government, particularly in the areas of leadership and governance, so that it would be able to unleash the full economic potential of the region.”
The Bangsamoro Administrative Code (BAC) defines “the structural, functional, and procedural principles and rules of governance” in the BARMM.
Lawyer Lanang Ali Jr., the parliament’s majority floor leader, said all the 58 members who were present, either physically in the session hall or via Zoom, approved the BAC on third and final reading on Wednesday.
Firming up the BAC is among the major tasks of the transition government, as spelled out in the Bangsamoro Organic Law.
Last July, the interim parliament also approved the Bangsamoro Development Plan, another key milestone in the transition.
Bangsamoro Chief Minister Ahod “Al Haj Murad” Ebrahim admitted that passing the BAC was not an easy task.
“From the early days of the transition to the unforeseen coming of the coronavirus pandemic, we were surely placed under unprecedented circumstances that made the completion of this important task even more challenging. But with the Mercy of the Almighty Allah, we were able to hurdle those challenges and provide our people the Bangsamoro Administrative Code,” Ebrahim said.
Ebrahim said in one of its basic principles and policies, the BAC provides that the Bangsamoro government, in pursuit of moral governance, “shall maintain honesty, integrity, transparency and accountability in governance and take positive and effective measures against graft and corruption.”
Parliament member Romeo Sema described the BAC as “indispensable in running a morally upright self-governance.”