Peace adviser backs BARMM transition gov't extension

The country's peace adviser on Friday threw support for the extension of the transition period of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) government until 2025.

“The Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process would like to reaffirm its position supporting the call for the extension of term of the Bangsamoro ARMM interim government until 2025,” Presidential Peace Adviser Carlito Galvez Jr., who is also the government’s vaccine czar, said at a Senate hearing Friday.

“We are pleased to note that this is also the same position of the other members of President Duterte’s Cabinet who have thrown their full support behind the BARMM’s extension,” he added.

Although the BARMM interim government has done a “remarkable job," Galvez said three years for the transition period are not yet enough to accomplish its objectives.

Among the major factors that affected the BARMM transition was the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.

“With the delimiting factors that has beset by COVID-19, their three years was cut into only one,” Galvez noted.

“The COVID-19 pandemic struck and adversely affected the regional government’s timetable in including our normalization program, particularly in the crafting its seminal codes and other key pieces of legislation,” he added.

The peace adviser said the implementation of the normalization track of the comprehensive agreement of the Bangsamoro is a “shared responsibility” of the BARMM and the national government.

“We must look at the bigger picture and by doing so, we will realize that the BARMM’s extension will far outweigh whatever impact this may have later on,” he said.

By extending the transition period, Galvez said the BARMM government will have more time to “lay foundations” of an inclusive, people-centered, and accountable bureaucracy.

“The only way we believe this is possible is for the honorable members of this body to favorably consider our proposal to extend the term of the regional government for another three years,” he said.

“An opportunity missed is an opportunity lost and I believe this is an opportunity that we have to give to the Bangsamoro people. We have negotiated for more than 17 years, what they’re asking is only 3 years for the transition,” he added.

The Senate committee on local government has tackled two measures which seek to amend the Bangsamoro Organic Law to extend the transition of the BARMM and postponing its first regular election from 2022 to 2025.—LDF, GMA News