63 North Cotabato barangays joining BARMM Nov.20
BANGSAMORO NEWS UPDATES • 18:00 PM Thu Nov 14, 2019
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By:
John M. Unson
BARMM Chief Minister Hadji Ahod Ebrahim (middle). File photo
COTABATO CITY --- The Bangsamoro government will assume control on November 20 of 63 barangays in North Cotabato as what residents had wished for.
Voters in the 63 barangays in North Cotabato, which is under Administrative Region 12, voted in favor of the inclusion of their communities in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao during a plebiscite the Commission on Elections administered early this year.
The Sangguniang Panlalawigan of North Cotabato has authored a resolution turning over the 63 Barangays to the BARMM government via its Ministry of the Interior and Local Government.
Highly-placed sources from the provincial government of North Cotabato said Thursday the November 20 symbolic turnover rite shall be officiated jointly by Gov. Nancy Catamco and key BARMM officials, among them Local Government Minister Naguib Sinarimbo.
The 63 barangays, predominantly populated by Muslims, have strong presence of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, whose figurehead, Hadji Ahod Ebrahim, is now BARMM’s interim chief minister.
The BARMM was established based on two accords --- the 2012 Framework Agreement on Bangsamoro and, subsequently, the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro --- that are products of 22 years of peace talks between the government and the MILF.