BARMM officials back proposed creation of Moro province

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Regional officials expressed optimism over the House of Representatives’ potential approval of a proposed Moro province covering 63 barangays in Cotabato province, all under the Bangsamoro government.

These 63 predominantly Moro barangays were grouped as the Special Geographic Area (SGA) of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) after local residents voted in 2019 to include their areas in the region’s core territory.

Radio reports in Central Mindanao on Saturday, August 23, stated that Cotabato congressional representatives Ma. Alana Samantha Santos and Edwin Cruzado, along with TUCP Party-list Rep. Raymond Democrito Mendoza, filed a bill in Congress proposing the creation of the Moro Province covering the SGA.

The SGA barangays are currently under eight towns—Pahamuddin, Kadayangan, Nabalawag, Old Kaabakan, Kapalawan, Malidegao, Tugunan, and Ligawasan—created last year by the 80-member BARMM parliament through separate enabling measures.

Two BARMM parliament members, physician-ophthalmologist Kadil Sinolinding Jr. and Mohammad Kelly Antao, separately told reporters on Saturday that they support the congressional proposal.

Santos, Cruzado, and Mendoza have long championed national government peace initiatives with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), both of which maintain enclaves in the SGA barangays now designated as “peace zones” by police and the military.

“The creation of a Moro province covering these barangays, now part of eight Bangsamoro municipalities, will strengthen the peace process between the government and Moro communities in Central Mindanao,” Antao said.

He added that many areas in the SGA, while under BARMM governance but located within Cotabato province (Region 12), were heavily affected by clashes from the 1970s to the late 1980s between state security forces and Moro secessionist rebels seeking autonomy.

Sinolinding, who also serves concurrently as BARMM’s health minister, expressed hope that congressional representatives from southern cities and provinces with Moro communities outside the autonomous region will support the bill’s enactment into law.

“It’s time for us to have that province,” Sinolinding said.

The proposal, titled An Act Creating a Moro Province for the Special Geographic Area, Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, was reportedly filed in Congress last week.

BARMM Labor Minister Muslimin Sema, who also chairs the MNLF’s central committee, voiced his support for the creation of the Moro province.

“That is something long paid for with the blood, sweat, and tears of the Moro people, who fought for self-governance for decades and only found peace after forging compacts with the national government,” Sema said.

The MNLF and MILF, which each have separate peace agreements with Malacañang, jointly manage some BARMM agencies and have representatives in the region’s 80-seat parliament.