Murad provides 16,000 sacks of rice to BTA amid COVID-19

BARMM Chief Minister Ahod 'Alhaj Murad' Ebrahim.

COTABATO CITY: The office of the Bangsamoro chief minister has ordered on Monday to provide 16,000 sacks of rice equally distributed to members of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) which sits as the Bangsamoro Parliament.

In his letter to Speaker Ali Pangalian Balindong of the Bangsamoro Parliament, Chief Minister Ahod ‘Al Haj Murad’ Ebrahim said the 80 members of the Bangsamoro Parliament will distribute the 16,000 sacks of rice to the needy constituents of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) affected by the Coronavirus Disease  (COVID-19) pandemic.

Office of the Chief Minister of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

Ebrahim said the rice distribution is on top of the ongoing initiatives of the Bangsamoro Government to address the needs of the populace during this crisis.

“These will be distributed to affected residents of BARMM, especially those who reside in the far-flung areas and provinces each of these Parliament members represent,” he said.

“Each of the 80 members of the Parliament (MPs) will be allocated with 200 sacks of rice, thereon, they will distribute it to their respective areas as soon as the order arrives,” he added.

The Office of the Executive Secretary (OES) and the Office of the Speaker is currently on the process of contacting the different MPs for distribution plan, considering that some of them are trapped, because of the enhanced community quarantine.

Meanwhile, BTA Secretary-General Raby Angkal expressed his gratitude to the Office of the Chief Minister. “It is of big help in reaching out to the poor members of our society who then became victims of the present crisis [Covid-19],” Angkal said.

Masiding Noor Yahya