BARMM mulls bigger death, disability benefits for barangay officials

COTABATO CITY — Members of the Bangsamoro Parliament have expressed support for a proposed regional law granting at least P500,000 in death and disability benefits to barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan officials in the autonomous region.

The Barangay Officials Death and Disability Benefit Act of 2025, or Bangsamoro Transition Authority Bill No. 379, was filed on Tuesday, July 22, at the 80-seat regional parliament in Cotabato City by its author, lawyer Naguib Sinarimbo.

Officials from the Bangsamoro Parliament’s public information division, including Jamaleah Lao-Benito, said on Wednesday, July 23, that BTA Bill 379 will soon undergo extensive deliberation by regional lawmakers.

In the draft regional law, Sinarimbo proposed a cash grant of at least P500,000 to P1 million for any barangay official who dies, becomes physically incapacitated due to violence or accidents while on duty, or suffers from illness during their term in office.

“We have colleagues in the parliament who assured us to help us work out the passage of this bill into law,” Sinarimbo said.

Sinarimbo previously served as the local government minister of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao before being appointed to the BARMM Parliament by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in March.

“We have barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan officials who are active in maintaining law and order in some troubled areas. This measure is so important. We need to have this as a regional law,” Sinarimbo said.

More than 20 of the 80 BARMM Parliament members told reporters on Wednesday morning that they will work together to ensure the passage of BTA Bill 379 into law.

The measure mandates the BARMM government to allocate funds for the death and disability packages, which will be jointly managed as a regional humanitarian program by Al-Amanah Islamic Bank and insurance firm Pru Life UK.

Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza of Cotabato province in Region 12, which has 63 barangays under the Bangsamoro regional government, said she is hoping for the enactment into regional law of the BTA Bill 379.

“That will be good for the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan officials of the 63 barangays in my province that are under the Bangsamoro government, but are inside several towns under my administration,” Mendoza said.

The Cotabato provincial government continues to provide public services to residents of the 63 BARMM barangays, now grouped into eight towns created last year by the Bangsamoro Parliament—despite the areas no longer being under its jurisdiction.

“Me and the mayors of the municipalities in Cotabato province from where the barangays now covered by the eight newly created Bangsamoro towns were carved from are one in supporting that proposed regional law,” Mendoza said.