Lamitan City residents still hoping for a representative to BTA

COTABATO CITY --- Residents of Lamitan City are expecting Malacañang to consider their clamor for representation in the Bangsamoro Transition Authority that reportedly has five slots still vacant.Christian and Muslim voters in Lamitan City, covering 45 barangays and present capital of Basilan, voted for the ratification of the Republic Act 11054, or the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), during the January 21 plebiscite in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.The 80-member BTA will oversee the transition from ARMM to the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, or BARMM, whose charter is the newly-ratified BOL.Lamitan City Vice Mayor Furigay said Sunday their Sangguniang Panglunsod has passed resolutions urging the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, President Rodrigo Duterte and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process to enlist one representative to the BTA from the city. Barangay officials keep coming to my office asking for an update. I can’t give them any because I really don’t know what’s happening up there and I’m not privy to the selection process, Furigay said.Furigay, a Christian, and his wife, Rose, the incumbent mayor of Lamitan City, are both staunch supporters of the peace process between the government and the MILF.Talks have been spreading around in political circles and among peace advocacy blocs purporting that there are still unfilled BTA posts since less than 80 people were sworn in to office by Duterte during a symbolic rite in Malacañang last Friday.One highly-placed source told reporters late Saturday Duterte is still to appoint five more BTA representatives to fill all of its 80 slots, more than half now occupied by appointees chosen by the MILF.The government shall have more than 30 representatives to the BTA. Voters in Lamitan City want one representative to the BTA. I have appealed to them to just accept reality if we can’t have any and acquiesce to the discretion of President Duterte, Furigay said.He said their city government, in fact, will embark soon on more humanitarian programs to complement the public service thrusts of the fledgling BARMM.The BARMM shall be managed by BTC pending the election of its first set of pioneering officials, possibly in 2022.