BARMM forms 8 towns out of Cotabato villages

NEW TERRITORY Children perform at the Pikit town plaza during a Christmas program last year. In the background is the historic Pikit town hall which sits in a village that is now part of
the Bangsamoro region. —PHOTO COURTESY OF SUMULONG SULTAN

COTABATO CITY — More than four years after choosing to be part of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), residents of 63 villages in Cotabato province will soon have their own local governments as the region’s interim parliament passed the measures organizing these communities into eight new towns.

The villages are lumped as the BARMM’s special geographic area (SGA) which is run by an administrator. This is further broken into eight clusters considering physical contiguity, each with an overseer.

The SGA has a population of 215,433, based on the 2020 census, and has an estimated voter base of close to 100,000 spread over six towns. It is composed of 22 villages from Pikit, 13 from Midsayap, 12 from Pigcawayan, seven each from Kabacan and Carmen, and two from Aleosan.

Bangsamoro Transition Authority Bill Nos. 129 to 136 were passed on third and final reading through unanimous votes last Wednesday, paving the way for the scheduling of a plebiscite in the affected areas simultaneous with the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections on Oct. 30 this year.

The measure was introduced in December last year and was eventually certified as urgent legislation by Chief Minister Ahod “Al Haj Murad” Ebrahim.

The parliament used the criteria set by Muslim Mindanao Autonomy Act No. 25 in creating the new towns, mainly, average annual income, population, and size of territory. The new towns whose creation will be subjected to ratification are Pahamuddin, Kadayangan, Nabalawag, Old Kaabakan, Kapalawan, Malidegao, Tugunan, and Ligawasan.

Under the measures, the BARMM would bear the cost of the plebiscite. When the towns are eventually created, the regional government is mandated to provide financial assistance for the administration and operation of the new local governments until they receive their national tax allotments.

Hope

Further, the Chief Minister is given the power to appoint the mayor, vice mayor, and eight members of the Sangguniang Bayan of the new municipalities. They will serve until officials elected in the 2025 midterm polls assume office.

The approval of the bills, according to Jimmy Yuro Adil, a former SGA cluster coordinator, represents not only a solution to the security problems that have plagued many of the villages but also a symbol of hope for the future.

“Finally, there will be leaders who will look into finding solutions to the challenges in Pikit. We’ll have our own municipality, police officers, and local executive officers to look up to,” said Adil.

Member of Parliament Mohammad Kelie Antao, a former SGA administrator, said the creation of the eight towns would allow the Bangsamoro government to provide more direct and efficient services to residents of the 63 villages.

Antao said that through their own local administrations, residents of these municipalities could expect enhanced opportunities for economic growth, infrastructure development, and delivery of services such as education and health care.

“It is time for the Bangsamoro government to extend its favor to the SGA residents who made the difficult decision to leave their original municipalities and join the Bangsamoro region,” he said.

Antao echoed the parliament’s expression of gratitude to the Cotabato provincial government, where he used to serve as a board member, for extending social services to SGA residents even after they had chosen to be part of the BARMM.

No longer disenfranchised

Their vote in the 2019 plebiscite cost SGA residents dearly. Without a local government, the voters from these villages were barred by the Commission on Elections from casting ballots for local officials during the 2022 general elections as they were no longer part of the political constituency of their mother towns.

In the 2019 midterm polls, however, they were still able to elect local officials in their mother towns after they voted to be part of the BARMM.

The creation of the new towns would end the situation where SGA voters are disenfranchised in local elections.

The Cotabato provincial government turned over supervision of the 63 villages to the BARMM in November 2019. However, it took until December 2020 for the Department of the Interior and Local Government to transfer supervision of these villages and of Cotabato City, which also voted to be part of the BARMM.

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