BARMM's Ebrahim, Basilan execs renew governance cooperation ties
BANGSAMORO NEWS UPDATES • 14:45 PM Tue Mar 3, 2020
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By:
John M. Unson
The meeting of Gov. Jim Salliman (left) and Bangsamoro Chief Minister Hadji Ahod Ebrahim was cordial.
COTABATO CITY --- Local executives in Basilan and Bangsamoro Chief Minister Hadji Ahod Ebrahim agreed Monday to cooperate on development efforts needed to sustain the peace now in the province.
Basilan Gov. Jim Salliman invited Ebrahim, during their meeting at the regional capitol of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in Cotabato City, to tour the island province to see how the provincial government and its constituent-local government units are addressing domestic security issues together.
Salliman was accompanied to the BARMM capitol by Vice Mayor Roderick Furigay of Lamitan City and Mayors Nerwelyn Mansul of Hadji Mutamad, Uthaimin Kallahal of Tuburan, Hanie Bud of Maluso, Arcam Istarul of Tipo-Tipo, Adnan Julz Hataman of Sumisip and Ibrahim Ballaho of Muhamad Ajul.
Also in the group are members of the Basilan Sangguniang Panlalawigan led by Vice Gov. Yusop Alano.
Salliman and his constituent-leaders reassured Ebrahim of their commitment to the efforts of Malacañang and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front to put an enduring diplomatic closure to the southern Moro issue hounding the nation since the late 1960s.
Ebrahim’s executive secretary, Abdulraof Macacua, was also present in the dialogue.
Ebrahim is chairman of the MILF’s central committee while Macacua is chief-of-staff of the group’s Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces.
“We are personally inviting you to come to Basilan for you to see our peace and governance initiatives there,” Salliman told Ebrahim during their hour-long meeting on Monday afternoon.
The Basilan provincial government twice received, in 2018 and, subsequently, in 2019, the Seal of Good Local Governance from the office of Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año.
The grant of the citation, an annual activity of the central office of the Department of the Interior and Local Government, is premised on the efficiency of recipient-municipal, city and provincial governments.
Salliman urged Ebrahim, in the presence of the local officials from Basilan, to support provincial programs meant to restore normalcy in conflict-affected areas in the province.
More than 200 members of the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan have returned to the fold of law in the past three years through the intercession of provincial officials, the military’s Western Mindanao Command and the Philippine National Police.
Besides Basilan, the BARMM also covers Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, both in mainland Mindanao, and southern island provinces of Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.