Regional execs now ready for ARMM to Bangsamoro switch

COTABATO CITY --- The executive department of the Autonomous Region in Muslim reiterated Wednesday its readiness turn over the ARMM government to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front once the Bangsamoro Basic Law is approved.ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman, now in his second term as chief executive of the autonomous region, said Wednesday he and members of his regional cabinet have long prepared for such transition. All of us are supporters of the peace process between the national government and the MILF. We believe that a duly approved BBL, one that is a complete prototype of the one drafted by representatives of the government and the MILF, will solve the Moro issue, Hataman said.The BBL is the enabling measure for the replacement of the ARMM with a more empowered MILF-led Bangsamoro political outfit.The proposed BBL had been approved by Senate and the House of Representatives, but subject yet to bicameral deliberations before it can be signed into law by President Rodrigo Duterte and ratified via a plebiscite involving voters in its proposed territory. I have focused my time and efforts in establishing the needed infrastructures in the autonomous region to help put up the foundations for a strong Bangsamoro government. All of these projects shall be turned over to whoever comes in to put in place this new entity, Hataman said.Hataman first got to the helm of ARMM as an appointed caretaker in December 2011 following the incarceration of its regional governor then, Zaldy Ampatuan, in connection with the infamous Nov. 23, 2009 Maguindanao massacre.He was elected regional governor during the 2013 ARMM polls and, subsequently, reelected in 2016. Sinong mag-aakala na mababago ang ating ekonomiya from negative 4 percent to positive 7.3 percent during my time? Credit has to go to all sectors in the region and all agencies of ARMM, Hataman said.He said services of the regional education department had improved in the past seven years too.Hataman said his administration had also constructed in the past seven years more than 1,000 kilometers of farm-to-market roads and highways in areas devastated by armed conflicts decades before.The autonomous region covers Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, which are both in mainland Mindanao, and the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi. We can facilitate a transition from ARMM to a new Bangsamoro government anytime once the BBL becomes a law. It doesn't matter to us in the regional government if it will cut short our elective tenure. The resolution of the Moro issue should materialize as soon as possible, Hataman said.