A member of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) on Saturday vowed to prioritize improving the education system in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
“We will prioritize more on education. There is a crisis in terms of education, especially in the BARMM area, and I’ve seen it first hand when I went there on the ground,” newly-appointed BTA member Nurredha Misuari said in a statement.
Misuari was one of the 80 BTA members who took their oath of office before President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at Malacañang’s Heroes Hall on Friday.
She said the BTA would also address issues affecting women and youth in BARMM as the interim governing body would conduct “more research” to promote and protect the welfare of both sectors.
“For the women, we will focus on their health, to protect their rights, to give them voice especially the young Muslim women in the region. There are issues happening during the pandemic. It has affected their mental health, as well as increased number of abortion, and young women having problems in their marriages,” Misuari said.
She expressed optimism that the Bangsamoro peace process would continue to gain ground under the leadership of Marcos.
“It’s somehow poetic to think that the peace process started with Marcos, and Inshallah, with the help of Almighty Allah, hopefully with our collective effort, we will achieve success during the time of another Marcos,” she said.
Misuari is a daughter of Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) founding chairman Nur Misuari.
The peace process with the Bangsamoro started with the signing of the 1976 Tripoli Agreement between the Philippine government and Misuari during the term of Marcos’ father and namesake, former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
The BTA will also focus on ensuring the completion of the remaining BARMM priority legislation, re-appointed member Amir Mawalil said in the same statement.
Mawalil said he and other BTA members would work on the passage of the priority codes stated in Republic Act (RA) 11054 or the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL).
He was referring to the Bangsamoro Local Governance Code, Indigenous Peoples’ Code, Electoral Code, and Revenue Code.
“Overall, this is a part of the peace agreement. The BOL is one of the fruits of the signed peace agreements. We would like to make sure that all mandated provisions under the BOL are complied with,” he added.
Mawalil also ensured that the BTA would implement all the BOL’s provisions within the extended transition period or until 2025.
“That’s one of the basic reasons why the term of the BTA was extended because we would like to make sure that the provisions contained in the BOL, especially those that are mandated to be finished within the transition period, should be finished before the end of the extended period in 2025,” he said.