Cotabato City—The Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) has approved Cabinet Bill No. 60, an act providing for the Bangsamoro Administrative Code and for other related purposes.
Bangsamoro Chief Minister Ahod Balawag Al-Hadj Murad Ebrahim said for the passage of the BARMM Administrative Code, he and the Moro people were grateful to his BTA colleagues “under the guidance of our Speaker, (lawyer) Pangalian Balindong.”
The Bill, passed Wednesday evening into regional law, defines the structural, functional, and procedural principles and rules of governance of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), a statement from the Regional Bureau of Information said.
“Today, we are writing history by providing the form of structure of the Bangsamoro Government and fulfilling one of our mandates during the transition period. It was not an easy task from the early days of the transition to the unforeseen coming of the Corona Virus Disease Pandemic, we were surely placed under unprecedented circumstances and condition that made this important task even more challenging,” Ebrahim said.
The law, authored by Member of Parliament Raissa Jajurie, a lawyer, contains provisions giving much credence and emphasis to roles of women in affairs of governance, including establishing the Bangsamoro bureaucracy.
More amendments were introduced by women Members of the Bangsamoro Parliament—among them Baintan Adil Ampatuan, former chief planner of the autonomous region, Susan Anayatin, representative of the Christian community, Jam Disimban Ramos, peace and women’s entrepreneurship advocate.
Before the sunset prayers, Jajurie accommodated amendments introduced by MP Zia Alonto Adiong of Lanao Sur before the Bill was finally voted into law.
By nominal voting, 26 BTA members voted physically while 32 voted via zoom. None of the members voted against nor abstained on the approval of CA 60.
The Bangsamoro Administrative Code is one of the priority legislations of the BTA, as provided under Republic Act 11054, the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL).
