Chief Minister Ahod Ebrahim alongside Wālī of Bangsamoro Sheik Muslim Guiamaden administered the Oath of office and moral governance of the newly appointed officials of BARMM’s Special Geographic Area (SGA) on Saturday, July 13, at the Shariff Kabunsuan Cultural Complex in Cotabato City. (Ben Cabuntalan/BIO)
COTABATO CITY— Bangsamoro Government Chief Minister Ahod Ebrahim on Saturday, July 13 administered the oath of office and moral governance of the newly-appointed officials of the eight newly-created municipalities in the Special Geographic Area (SGA).
Eight OIC mayors, eight OIC vice mayors, and 64 OIC municipal councilors took their oath at the Sharrif Kabungsuan Cultural Complex (SKCC) inside the Bangsamoro Government Center in this city who were joined by their supporters, friends, and relatives, along with high-ranking officials from the regional government.
Chief Minister Ebrahim who described the ceremony as “historic” said that the event signals a new bread of leadership deeply rooted in moral governance advocacy.
“This ceremony today signals a new dawn of leadership and hope that is deeply rooted in our advocacy of moral governance and our aspiration of an empowered, cohesive, and progressive Banvgsamoro,” Ebrahim said.
On April 30 this year, Ebrahim signed an executive order creating an Ad Hoc screening and review committee for applicants to municipal positions of the new eight SGA towns.
The EO came a few weeks after the Commission on Elections announced that 72,658 out of 89,594 registered voters of SGA voted for YES in a plebiscite which eventually ratified the law creating the eight new SGA towns.
Ministry of the Interior and Local Government (MILG) Minister Atty Sha Elijah Dumama-Alba, who served as chairman of the Ad Hoc screening and review committee, shared in a post-ceremony media interview that the newly-created municipalities are not yet entitled to the National Tax Allocation (NTA) from the national government, the regional government has allocated fund for their operation.
“We are already coordinating with the national government through the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for their NTA,” Dumama shared further explaining that DBM has already advised them of the requirements needed.
SGA is a Moro enclave carved out of Cotabato Province` established through a lawful plebiscite in 2019, carving out 63 barangays from the municipalities of Carmen, Kabacan, Pikit, Midsayap, Aleoosan, and Pigcawayan.
Through regional legislations passed in the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) parliament, said barangays were clustered and constituted into eight municipalities as follows: Pahamuddin, Kadayangan, Nabalawag, Tugunan, Malidegao, Ligawasan, Old Kaabakan, and Kapalawan. (Abdullah Matucan/BIO)