Local communities support creation of 8 new BARMM towns

COTABATO CITY — Local executives and two Moro fronts that have separate peace agreements with Malacañang vowed to help secure the April 13, 2024 plebiscite for the creation of eight new Bangsamoro municipalities in Cotabato province.

The chairperson of the Cotabato Provincial Peace and Order Council, Gov. Emmylou Taliño Mendoza, Bangsamoro Regional Labor Minister Muslimin Sema, who is chairman of the Moro National Liberation Front, and leaders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in the province separately announced on Monday that they shall help the Commission on Elections facilitate the plebiscite. 

The democratic exercise is a requisite for the setting up of the eight towns that shall cover 63 Bangsamoro barangays in different towns in Cotabato, which is under Region 12, as proposed by the 80-seat regional parliament of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The eight towns that the regional lawmaking body is aiming to establish via an enabling measure drafted last year shall be named Pahamudin, Kadayangan, Nabalawag, Old Kaabacan, Kapalawan, Malidegao, Tugunan and Ligawasan.

"All MNLF field commanders in these Bangsamoro barangays, also known as the Bangsamoro SGA (Special Geographic Area) had been directed to support the April 13 plebiscite security efforts of the police and the Philippine Army," Sema, chairman of the MNLF's central committee, said.

Sema said that they will coordinate their security initiatives with officials of the Comelec in Region 12 and in BARMM and with the Police Regional Office-12 and the Army's 6th Infantry Division.

While the 63 SGA barangays are no longer covered by the municipal governments in Cotabato province after residents voted in favor of the inclusion of their barangays into BARMM's core territory in a 2019 referendum, mayors continued providing the local communities with humanitarian services.

"We support the creation of these eight municipalities that shall be under the BARMM government because it will have a very positive impact, particularly on  commerce and trade, with the municipalities in Cotabato province where these 63 barangays once belonged," Mendoza, also chairperson of the Regional Development Council 12.

Mendoza said she and her constituent-mayors in different towns from where the 63 SGA barangays were carved from have a standing agreement to maintain connectivity with residents that are now under the BARMM government.

"The SGA residents are connected with the trading centers and schools in our towns. They go to hospitals in our towns for medical services. Once the eight new towns in the SGA are created, our LGUs will link up with the LGUs there to ensure utmost cooperation in peacebuilding programs related to the peace process of the national government, the MNLF and the MILF. These two fronts have separate peace pacts with Malacañang that we in Cotabato province also value a lot," Mendoza said.

Army Major Gen. Alex Rillera, commander of 6th ID, told reporters on Friday that they shall mobilize the personnel of the 90th, 34th and 6th Infantry Battalions to help the Comelec conduct the April 13 plebiscite in the 63 SGA barangays.

Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia, Region 12 police director Brig. Gen. Jimili Macaraeg and Rillera announced the schedule of the plebiscite during an initial security dialogue related to it early this week at the headquarters of the PRO-12 in Barangay Tambler in General Santos City.