BTA inauguration, parliament 1st session set on March 25

THE 75-member Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) will have their inauguration on March 25 in Cotabato City, alongside the first session of the parliament of the new Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). President Rodrigo R. Duterte is expected to join the event. The BTA members, then 76 before the recent death of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s (MILF) Ghazali Jaafar, took their oath in Malacañang last Feb. 22. The ARMM government was turned over to the BTA on Feb. 26, also in Cotabato City. With the death of Mr. Jaafar, BTA Chief Minister Murad Ebrahim said the MILF will have to discuss his replacement, who will be endorsed to the Office of the President. Mr. Jaafar was the supposed nominee of the MILF for the position of Speaker of the Parliament. The four other still unoccupied seats of the BTA will be have to be filled up by the national government’s nominees. — Tajallih S. Basman