Pork, fiestas won’t be banned in BARMM
COTABATO CITY — The practice among Christians of consuming pork and staging fiestas in honor of patron saints will not be prohibited in the new Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
This was disclosed by Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Governor Mujiv Hataman, who said that Republic Act 11054, or the Bangsamoro Organic Law that seeks the creation of BARRM.
“It’s not true that the Christians’ practices such as fiesta and eating pork will be prohibited,” Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Governor said at a recent rally in Isabela City of Basilan, his home-province.
Hataman added: “ARMM has been there for many years and fiestas have not been prohibited. You go to Wao, Lanao del Sur, and Lamitan City, Basilan where fiestas and faiths are equally respected.”
BARMM will replace the 29-year old ARMM once the BOL is ratified in the January 21, 2019 plebiscite in Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, as well as Marawi and Lamitan cities (all of ARMM), and the cities of Cotabato and Isabela, six towns in Lanao del Norte and 39 villages in six North Cotabato towns.
The Commission on Elections has announced another plebiscite on February 6 for 92 local government units, barangays in particular, in Zamboanga and Iligan cities, Zamboanga Sibugay and other parts of Lanao Norte, North Cotabato.
At a joint assembly in Isabela City recently, Hataman alongside Bangsamoro Transition Commission key member Mohagher Icbal and other pro-BOL officials expounded on the “inclusivity” of the BARMM governance in apparent repudiation of critics’ claims that non-Muslims will be discriminated upon or persecuted in the new regional governance.
“I think that’s a very desperate move of (BOL critics). In the case of Isabela, anti-BOL (people) are either misleading or misinforming villagers,” Hataman said.
He renewed his optimism based on informal surveys that the people of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi will overwhelmingly ratify the BOL. He did not mention Lanao del Norte and Sulu because the top elected leaders there have been openly campaigning against BOL.