Bangsamoro Speaker expects efficient bureaucracy

By MASIDING NOOR YAHYA

July 31, 2019

Former House Deputy Speaker Pangalian Balindong takes his oath of office as the first speaker of the Bangsamoro Parliament before BARMM Interim Chief Minister Ahod "Alhaj Murad" Ebrahim. (MNY) 

MARAWI CITY: The speaker of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) or the interim Bangsamoro Parliament has high hope that there will be an efficient bureaucracy of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

Speaker Pangalian M. Balindong who once served as deputy speaker of the House of Representatives expressed his expectation during the signing of an agreement between the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP), the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) and the BTA.

Expressing his pleasure at having the DAP helping the BARMM set up its offices and institutions, Balindong, a former congressman representing the 2nd district of Lanao del Sur, said, “I am certain that you will be able to come up with a new BARMM bureaucracy that is efficient and responsive to the needs of our constituents.”

The DAP represented by its president and chief executive officer Engelbert C. Caronan, Jr., OPAPP by Secretary Carlito G. Galvez, Jr., and BTA by Speaker Balindong signed the accord on July 25.

Galvez said, “DAP has previously worked with the ARMM government.” He said the partnership with DAP paved the way for improving the region’s economy. “Likewise, the DAP has assisted the Bangsamoro Board of Investments in its reorganization efforts,” he added.

Through this new agreement, the DAP will extend technical assistance to the BTA Ad Hoc Committee on Creation of Offices by: (a) providing experts to conduct a basic orientation on organizational development for the Committee and key staff of concerned line agencies; (b) providing consultancy services for the development of organizational structures and staffing patterns during Committee hearings and consultations; and (c) preparing guidelines for the Committee in crafting of law/s on the creation of offices.

“We are not the one who will make the proposal; we will only facilitate the process. It is your intentions, it is your aspirations that has to appear, that has to be seen in the work that we are going to be facilitating,” Caronan said. 

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Alexei Nograles, who also graced the event, supported Caronan’s statement by saying that the Bangsamoro government will be the main actors and decision-makers, and the DAP will only provide assistance.

On the other hand, the OPAPP will provide funding for the project while the BTA Ad Hoc Committee on the Creation of Offices and its partners will create the organizational structures and draft the bills that will create these offices.

BARMM priority offices to be created

Nine priority BARMM offices will be created through the Ad Hoc Committee. These include the following: Ministry of Human Settlements and Development; Ministry of Public Order and Safety; Office on Youth; Office on Women; Office on Settler Communities; Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office; Planning and Development Office; Office of the Attorney-General; and Office of the BTA.

This technical assistance project is in fulfillment of the DAP’s commitment to the Bangsamoro Organic Law (RA 11054) that mandates national government agencies to provide assistance to the BARMM. (MNY)