Cotabato City—The Parliament of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority ended its week’s session days on Thursday, unable to resolve pending administrative issues on salary funds and staffing pattern
Sulu Member of Parliament Don Mustapha Loong said the July 29 executive session was the longest so far, and with hundreds of employees wishfully waiting outside the Shariff Kabunsuan Cultural Center here for good news of a take home salaries on a payday—after six months.
Majority Leader Lance Ali Jr. said the BTA has been informed that the Department of Budget and Management has approved some P1.23 billion which was hardly enough for the administrative requirements of the Parliament, February through December.
Ali said revert in regionally-generated revenues from the National Treasury, amounting to P 800 million may augment for the shortfall.
Sources privy to issues discussed in the close-door session said the DBM has instead released a lesser amount with very constricted size of staffing pattern for members of the Bangsamoro Parliament, each office having only a chief-of-staff, a legal staff (lawyer) and a political officer—and with rates “comparable only to utility workers.”
The national government has also reportedly released some P600 million through the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process to fund the administrative requirements of the Parliament.
Loong said this was the subject of the lengthy discussion among members of Parliament in an executive session, because hundreds would not be paid their salaries, having served during the last six months, if DBM-approved staffing pattern were followed.
“The staff workers of the BTA that had been rendering service the past five months have not yet received their salary, and their appointments and salary seem not clear in the horizon,” Loong said.
Loong said the status of the BTA staff still hangs on balance, having been pending with the DBM, and causing a “debilitating effect on the effectiveness of the BTA.”
He said such is a “clear sign” that the Bangsamoro is still being denied meaningful autonomy. “This is a clear litmus test of the potential and future of the Bangsamoro government.
