The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) has ratified P85.3-billion budget for 2023.
BARMM Chief Minister Ahod Al Hadj Murad Ebrahim signed into law Parliament Bill No. 54 embodying the P85.3-billion Bangsamoro Expenditure Program (BEP) for 2023 Thursday night in Cotabato City.
Ebrahim said the 2023 BARMM general appropriation has been shaped by emerging factors including massive destruction wrought by the recent tropical storm “Paeng.”
“The BEP 2023 is inspired by many things; our collective experiences, recent economic changes, and just recently, tragedies that struck at the very core of our homeland. These factors have been thoroughly considered in this process, and I am optimistic that the roadmap for next year is clear and responsive to the needs of the Bangsamoro,” Ebrahim said.
The Parliament of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) unanimously approved Parliament Bill No. 54 on third and final reading on Tuesday, December 20, with 44 affirmative votes.
The measure increased BARMM’s budget by 6.44 per cent from P79.8 billion in 2022 to P85.3 billion for 2023, providing the usual bigger allocations for education, health, infrastructure, and social services.
The top 10 agencies with the biggest budget allocations are the Ministry of Basic, Higher, and Technical Education – P27.2 billion; Ministry of Public Works – P16.4 billion; Office of the Chief Minister, P5.9 billion; Ministry of Health – P5.8 billion; Bangsamoro Transition Authority P3.9 billion; Ministry of Social Services and Development – P3.07 billion; Ministry of the Interior and Local Government, P2.04 billion; Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Agrarian Reform, P1.5 billion; Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources, and Energy, P666 million; and Ministry of Transportation and Communications, P539 million.
BTA Committee on Finance, Budget, and Management chairman and concurrent Public Work Minister and Member of the Parliament Eduard Guera said the regional government’s expenditures program “underwent rigid scrutiny and deliberations in committee hearings where the agencies justified their appropriations.
“The Committee on Finance Budget and Management (CFBM) went through marathon hearings and scrutinized the proposed budgets of all ministries and offices to ensure that the budget is for the Bangsamoro people,” Guera said.
“Following this approval, we will move forward with the implementation of all projects and programs in the provinces of the region, including the Special Geographic Area,” he added.
Special Geographic Area (SGA) is composed of 63 barangays from Cotabato province which became part of the BARMM following the February 2019 plebiscite.
On the same day the budget law was approved, BTA lawmakers also filed several bills that seek to create eight municipalities out of the 63 SGA barangays.
However, in enacting autonomy laws in the past, the Philippine Congress, has thus far, retained its constitutional powers of creating and partitioning of legislative districts.