BANGSAMORO NEWS UPDATES

COTABATO CITY --- The Bangsamoro parliament has approved on second reading a proposed regional law meant to protect constituents working abroad from maltreatment by employers.

The Parliament Bill 36 that aims to institutionalize policies for Bangsamoro overseas employment was authored by Regional Labor Minister Romeo Sema.

The bill is also focused on ensuring the welfare and protection of Bangsamoro constituents working outside of the country.

THE Bangsamoro Transition Authority will establish a Press Center to boost transparency starting with its interim administration, a ranking member of the BTA Parliament said.

Deputy Speaker Omar Yasser Sema on weekend said he had asked the BTA Information Office to look for a space on which to develop and establish a permanent Parliament Press Center (PPC).

BTA is the transitional mechanism toward establishing the governing policies and structures of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) under Republic Act 11054, the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL).

COTABATO CITY --- Disaster and calamity responders in the Bangsamoro government finished on Sunday a week-long schooling on collapsed structure search and rescue in Zambales.

The 21 personnel of the Rapid Emergency Action on Disaster Incidence (READI) were taught how to rescue injured people trapped in vehicles and structures destroyed by earthquakes and bombs by the foreign-trained emergency responder Ranny Magno.

Magno is fire chief of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority in Zambales.

COTABATO CITY — A total of 1,979 displaced families in the three (3) municipalities of Maguindanao received relief packs from Bangsamoro Government’s Rapid Emergency Action on Disaster Incidence (READI-BARMM) on Thursday, March 25. 
 
Internally Dispalced Persons (IDPs) from the Municipalities of Datu Salibo, Datu Unsay, and Shariff Aguak—affected by the on-going skirmishes between Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF)—benefitted from Thursday’s relief distribution.
  

LANAO DEL SUR --- This province got from the Bangsamoro government more than P1 billion worth of grant for infrastructure projects needed to hasten the socio-economic growth of the local communities.  

Naguib Sinarimbo, local government minister of BARMM, told reporters Wednesday the grant was apportioned in different amounts for the Lanao del Sur provincial government and the 39 municipal governments in the province and its capital, Marawi City.

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao – The military here said the skirmishes between government forces and Dawla Islamiyah gunmen in Maguindanao have left 14 Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) dead and 25 wounded.

Three soldiers were injured in the day-long firefight that erupted on Bangsamoro Freedom Day (March 18) in Barangay Kitango, Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Maguindanao. Lieutenant Colonel John Paul Baldomar, 6th Infantry Division spokesperson, said Tuesday the slain BIFF were immediately buried by their comrades according to Islamic rites.

MAGUINDANAO — Bangsamoro Government’s Ministry of Social Services and Development (MSSD) provided vital and reliable relief assistance to internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Maguindanao due to the recent armed conflict.

MSSD Minister Atty. Raisa Jajurie said that the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) and the ministry are continuously aiding the needs of displaced families in Datu Saudi Ampatuan and nearby towns in terms of food and non-food items.

COTABATO CITY — An annual conference of Muslim scholars will be held annually by the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) to reach consensus on matters concerning moon sighting and declaration of start of fasting for Ramadan.

Fifty-three (53) years ago, the tragic incident that lit the spark of the decades-long Moro rebellion in Mindanao took place.
 
Five decades later, the Jabidah Massacre continues to linger in the memories of Moro revolutionaries and its leaders.
 
Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) Chairman Muslimin G. Sema and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Peace Implementing Panel Chair Mohagher M. Iqbal shared their stories on how the 1960’s Moro insurgency became an eye-opener and its relevance up to the present.
 

COTABATO CITY -- Elected leaders in Basilan expressed favor Tuesday for the deferment to 2025 of the first ever 2022 elections in the infant Bangsamoro region.

Led by Basilan Gov. Jim Salliman, the local executives from the island province also assured key officials of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao of their support to efforts by the BARMM leadership to put in place governance facets needed to hasten the attainment of lasting peace and sustainable development in the region.