COTABATO CITY — Officials of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) have expressed appreciation for the support extended by two Christian governors in Region 12 to Moro communities, citing their cooperation as a boost to peace and development efforts in the area.
The remarks came on Friday, January 23, the final day of the weeklong celebration of BARMM’s 7th founding anniversary.
Active support to Moro communities
BARMM Chief Minister Abdulrauf Macacua said South Cotabato Governor Reynaldo Tamayo Jr. and Cotabato Governor Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza have been actively assisting the Bangsamoro government in delivering public services to communities located near their respective provinces.
Both South Cotabato and Cotabato were once areas affected by armed conflict involving the Ilaga, Christian vigilante groups that clashed with Moro secessionist forces in the early 1970s.
“We appreciate that. We are thankful to both of them. They don’t even have to do so because our peace and development initiatives are being implemented outside their respective provinces,” Macacua told reporters on Saturday.
Rolly Aquino, head of the South Cotabato Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, said Governor Tamayo has directed emergency response teams to prioritize services for Moro communities in the province.
Medical missions, security programs
Bangsamoro Health Minister Kadil Sinolinding Jr. said the office of Governor Taliño-Mendoza has been supporting medical missions in 63 barangays now classified as the Special Geographic Area (SGA) under BARMM.
The barangays, reorganized into eight new municipalities by the Bangsamoro parliament last year, were formerly part of several towns in Cotabato province under Region 12.
“Her office shoulders part of the hospital expenses of patients from the 63 barangays confined in hospitals in her province, even though they are no longer her constituents,” Sinolinding said.
Bangsamoro Labor and Employment Minister Muslimin Sema, chair of the Moro National Liberation Front’s central committee, said the two governors are also helping police and military authorities reintegrate former Moro violent extremists who have pledged allegiance to the government.
“These two governors are not anti-Moro, and that augurs well for the national government’s peace initiatives with Moro communities in the autonomous region and in their provinces,” Sema said.
Sema and Macacua, who is also a member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s central committee, said Tamayo and Taliño-Mendoza regularly meet with BARMM officials to discuss governance, peace, and security concerns.
“For their being not anti-Moro, being not anti-Muslim, we are thankful,” Sema added.
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