DAVAO CITY—The Bangsamoro government has passed its first regional budget for fiscal year 2020, with education getting the lion’s share to ensure that no child in the region is left behind.
The Bangsamoro Transition Authority passed the proposed P65-billion budget for next year. BTA-Cabinet Bill 31, entitled “An Act appropriating funds for the operation of the Bangsamoro Government from January 1 to December 31, 2020, and other purposes” was approved by the Bangsamoro Parliament.
Chief Minister Ahod Al Haj Murad Ebrahim signed the measure also on Friday, according to the Bureau of Public Information of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
The Bangsamoro Expenditure Program (BEP) contains the priority plans, projects and programs of the Bangsamoro government, with education getting P19 billion, or 29 percent of the total budget.
Ebrahim said he was honored to be the first Bangsamoro Chief Minister to have read the document “which is a fruit of the more than five decades of struggle of the Bangsamoro.”
“Hindi ito para sa akin, hindi para sa mga ministers [This is not for me, not for the ministers]. This is for the Bangsamoro people,” he said.
In his Chief Minister’s Hour, Ebrahim said: “Behind these numbers are the blood, sweat and tears of our people. We must, by all means, give justice to the sacrifices of our people. We can do so by using our respective ministries’ and offices’ budget without an iota of greed and corruption.”
“Remember that when we perform our actions with pure heart and sincere intentions, Allah has remarkable ways of making sure that everything will work out accordingly,” he added.
The proposed budget was a consolidation of the budget proposals of the Bangsamoro government’s ministries and offices submitted to the Ministry of Finance, and Budget and Management (MFBM).
The approved proposals were then crafted as the 2020 BEP.
“We have crafted a Bangsamoro Expenditure Program consistent with our 12-point priority agenda and our goal for moral governance,” said Ebrahim.
As the education sector will get the biggest chunk of the budget, he said the ministry of education will work to ensure that all Bangsamoro children will benefit from this.
The BARMM officially started as the new autonomous governing body among Filipino Muslims in Mindanao on March 29. President Duterte led the inauguration of the Bangsamoro government.