BANGSAMORO NEWS UPDATES

COTABATO CITY — The Bangsamoro Government and Commission on Election (COMELEC) are taking a decisive step in fostering inclusive elections, following the launch of the comprehensive Bangsamoro Electoral Code (BEC) Handbook by the Legal Network for Truthful Elections (LENTE) on Jan. 18, in this city.
 
The BEC handbook has been produced to serve as a guide and reference to equip election officials, voters, and concerned stakeholders to conduct inclusive and efficient elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
 

COTABATO CITY - Up to 22 families here with children employed as laborers received an initial cash assistance as a startup fund for small entrepreneurial projects that can generate extra income and prevent forced employment of underage family members.

The grant of P15,000 cash is part of the Bangsamoro Child Labor Sagip Program of the Ministry of Labor and Employment-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, drawn from its budget from the regional coffer.

COTABATO CITY - The Committees on Social Services and Development (CSSD) and Finance, Budget, and Management (CFBM) jointly approved BTA Bill No. 44 during a meeting on Tuesday, January 16.

The bill seeks to establish the Office of the Bangsamoro Mujahideen Under Special Circumstance (OBMUSC), which will be responsible for providing financial assistance to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) Mujahideen who are senior citizens and permanently disabled.

PARANG, Maguindanao del Norte — The province of Maguindanao del Norte will have four parliamentary districts pending the passage of Parliament Bill No. 267, which will provide for fair representation in the 80-seat Bangsamoro Parliament.
 
The proposal is part of PB No. 267, which aims to create 32 single-member districts in the BARMM, ensuring an equitable distribution of parliamentary seats to accommodate the diverse population in the region.
 

COTABATO CITY ─ In the first of a series of public consultations for Parliament Bill No. 267, Bangsamoro Parliament Floor Leader and Committee on Rules Chair Atty. Sha Elijah Dumama-Alba emphasized the importance of creating parliamentary districts for the region’s 2025 elections.

Atty. Dumama-Alba stressed that the absence of established parliamentary districts would pose significant challenges to the electoral process in the region.

COTABATO CITY — Bangsamoro lawmakers are championing two hospital bills aimed at improving healthcare services in the provinces of Sulu and Maguindanao del Norte.

The first of these bills, BTA Bill No. 264, or the Siasi District Hospital Standardization Act of 2023, proposes to standardize the bed capacity of the Siasi District Hospital (SDH) in Sulu, elevating it from 25 to 50 beds.

The proposed increase aims to address the healthcare needs of the growing population in the municipality of Siasi, currently standing at approximately 80,000.

MANILA - President Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos has ordered the preventive suspension of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos chair Guiling Mamondiong on allegations of anomalies in the Hajj pilgrimage last year.

In a statement, NCMF said Commissioner Yusoph Janang Mando assumed as officer-in-charge while Mamondiong is suspended for three months.

Earlier, Sulu Vice Gov. Toto Tan, on behalf of Muslim pilgrims, complained about dismal services by NCMF during the July 2023 hajj.

COTABATO CITY - Three ethnic Maranaws riding a tricycle were killed while another was wounded in an ambush on Sunday afternoon in Barangay Masao in Pualas, Lanao del Sur.

In separate reports on Monday, local officials and the Pualas Municipal Police Station identified the fatalities as Pendaton Polayagan, 54, Tarapas Polayagan, 32, and the 26-year-old Mutilan Polayagan, who died on the spot from multiple bullet wounds.

The fourth tricycle passenger, Benjamin Polayagan, 25, was seriously wounded in the attack.

COTABATO CITY - A foreign-assisted anti-child labor campaign has expanded to this city, launched on Friday by a 30-member group that shall address the issue besetting the local communities.

The group, comprised of three supervisors, a child protection specialist, 17 formal teachers, nine alternative learning system teachers and a focal person from the Cotabato City Schools Division under the Bangsamoro education ministry, finished on Friday a three-day workshop on Supporting Children’s Rights through Education, the Arts and the Media, or SCREAM project.

COTABATO CITY - Bangsamoro govenrment Chief Minister Ahod Balawag Ebrahim and a new political party in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) have decried what it described as "inappropriate" and "culturally insensitive" the depiction of the BARMM and Moro communities as once under Spanish colonial rule was during the opening of Sinulog sa Sugbo festival was inaccurate.