Parliamentary Bill 355 will further institutionalize the Salamat Excellence Award for Leadership (SEAL) for local executives of cities, municipalities, and provinces in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
Member of Parliament Naguib Sinarimbo said the Bangsamoro Transitional Authority (BTA) Committee on Local Governance took up BTA Parliamentary Bill 355 to amend the BARMM Local Governance Code and cover a provision of endowment fund in the form of an investible trust.
Speaker Pangalian Balindong also directed the same committee to review policies on the utilization of the Local Government Support Fund (LGSF) in response to the Local Government Committee Report of the House of Representatives.
It can be recalled that the House Committee on Local Government has probed the complaint of Lanao del Sur Governor Bombit Adiong on alleged misuse of the LGSF.
On the SEAL measure, Sinarimbo said a BTA partnership with the Mindanao State University (MSU) will guide the BTA Parliament’s Local Government Committee in crafting relevant policies that are Sharia-compliant.
The conventional banking system also provides investment venues or platforms for trust fund investments: The Union Bank, for instance, has its Unit Investment Trust Fund (UITF), which the bank defines as “an open-ended pooled trust fund denominated in pesos or any acceptable currency. It is operated and administered by a trust entity and made available by participation.”
Sinarimbo said only the income generated by the Sharia-compliant trust investment will be spent for the awarding of SEAL-winning local officials from the annual assessment of the BARMM’s Ministry of Local Government (MILG).
He said an endowment fund will be managed by the BARMM Regional Treasury Office. The Treasury Office, he said, guided by MSU academics, will formulate trust and endowment management policies on investible funds which will generate income to support an institutionalized SEAL Program.
