ARMM inaugurates Bangsamoro Museum in Cotabato City

COTABATO CITY – The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) formally inaugurated the first Bangsamoro Museum on Monday, February 4, at Shariff Kabunsuan Cultural Complex here.The Bangsamoro Museum is a facility established under Executive Order No. 32 s. 2019. It serves as repository of artifacts, works of art, as well as textual and iconographic records relevant to the cultural memory of the Bangsamoro people in the ARMM.Governor Mujiv Hataman, who led the opening of the museum, underscored it was not easy for the regional government to put up such facility. However, he said the assistance of a national curator and the competence of the workforce of the Office of the Regional Governor drove him to push for it. Ito rin ang ating motibasyon upang buoin ang museo na ito. Ayaw na nating maranasan na hirap at kung sinu-sino lamang ang magkukwento sa atin ng kwento ng buhay at aspeto ng ating pagiging Moro, he added.The Bangsamoro Museum also symbolizes the determination of Hataman’s leadership to deliver a smooth transition to the incoming Bangsamoro government through reformed governance. ItongBangsamoro Museum,kasama na rin angRegional Library,ay simbolo ng pagkokonsolida natin sa mga dokumento para sa transisyon ng gobyerno, he said.Hataman also noted the importance of the inauguration of the facility for ARMM and for the next generation. Ang mahalaga, sa pagtatapos ngARMM,mayroon tayong maiiwan na pwedeng tawaging ‘legasiya’ at pwede ninyo rin itong tawaging regalo namin sa mga henerasyong darating. The Bangsamoro Museum was organized under independent curator and institutional critic Marian Pastor Roces. She emphasized that the purpose of its establishment is to collect significant stories of the Bangsamoro people through the exhibition of different artifacts from the region.Roces said she admires the resiliency of the Bangsamoro people and this is the reason why during the conceptualization of the museum’s theme, her group collected objects that convey stories of courage and survival as their main value. Karaniwan, ang isang museo ay naglalaman ng magagarangexhibits.Ngunit sa museong ito, karamihan po ng makikita ninyo ay hindi magagara, hindi mamahalin. May naka-exhibit na parang basahan... parang sira na (kung ituring). Bakit? Dahil mas mahalaga yung taglay na kwento ng bagay na iyan, Roces said.Curation is a process of organizing and managing artifacts to ensure that they remain tangible and visible for the years to come. The Bangsamoro Museum has its permanent exhibition, which presents artifacts from the different parts of ARMM that have existed for centuries now.Visitors can see these, including textiles produced by Maranao women during the Marawi Siege as means of survival recordings of the Tausug Kissa-chanting of the Bud Dajo massacre personal library of Moro Islamic Liberation Front founder Hashim Salamat and the 2,000-year-old archeological artifacts of Kulaman plateau, specifically burial urns.Aside from these artifacts, the museum also has ample space reserved for receiving important documents in the future. The museum currently exhibits documents related to the peace process, including the Bangsamoro Organic Law.With the establishment of the museum, the incoming government will immediately learn that ARMM looks forward to the future of the Bangsamoro. Itinayo ito para bigyan ng karampatang pagtingin ang lahat ng nagawa para umabot dito, Roces said.Meanwhile, Bangsamoro transition Commissioner Mohagher Iqbal expressed his gratitude to the efforts of Governor Hataman’s administration in ensuring a smooth transition through the preparation of pertinent documents that would be submitted to the new regional government. Iqbal also turned over to the Bangsamoro Museum and Regional Library books he authored in 1982, which documented peace processes in southern Philippines.Along with the launching of the Bangsamoro Museum was the formal opening of the ARMM Regional Library, although it has already been made available to the public. (Bureau of Public Information)