COTABATO CITY – Various civil society organizations (CSOs) kicked off here Wednesday a daylong peace caravan aimed at urging members of Congress to extend the term of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) from 2022 to 2025.
In an interview, Ammier Dodo, CSO Movement for Moral Governance spokesperson, said about 6,000 vehicles – light trucks, commuter vans, private cars, and motorcycles – have so far signified to join the caravan, dubbed “Unity Caravan: A Final Call for BTA Extension”, from various parts of Maguindanao alone.
“We hope that CSOs in other parts of the region are also doing good in their caravan,” Dodo said.
The BARMM covers the cities of Cotabato, Marawi, and Lamitan, and the provinces of Maguindanao, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Lanao del Sur, and Basilan, as well as 63 villages in North Cotabato province.
In the Maguindanao area, the caravan jumped off at 7:30 a.m. in Sitio Bubong, Tamontaka in this city.
“The caravan will pass by the towns of Maguindanao proceeding to Buluan, the capital of the province, before returning to this city in the afternoon,” he said.
Dodo said a similar caravan also commenced in nearby North Cotabato where they would converge in Buluan town.
Caravan marshals, he said, have been deployed along the caravan route to check and remind participants of standard health protocols.
“The caravan leaders are also reminded to maintain a 60-km. per hour travel along the way,” he said.
Tandok Mohammad, a caravan participant, described the peace motorcade as a means to convince hesitant members of Congress to support the Bangsamoro people’s clamor for the BTA extension.
“We are appealing to the national government to sustain the gains of the Mindanao peace process by supporting the BTA extension,” Mohammad said in the vernacular.
Under the BTA extension, BARMM officials appeal to skip the scheduled 2022 polls for the region and move it to 2025 to complete transitional programs and projects for the constituents hampered by the pandemic.
BARMM Chief Minister Ahod Ebrahim himself has described the BTA extension as a call for peace, a petition for amity and coherence.
President Rodrigo Duterte, who earlier showed support for the BTA extension for three more years, said he is leaving the fate of the proposal to Congress to initiate proceedings to amend the Bangsamoro Organic Law, the edict that created the two-year-old BARMM.
The BOL and the eventual establishment of the BARMM in March 2019 is one of the major accomplishments of the Duterte administration, ushering sustainable peace to formerly troubled spots in Mindanao hounded by clashes between government forces and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, once the largest Moro rebel group in the island-region.
Source: Philippines News Agency