Photo shows from left (first row): DAP sa Mindanao Managing Director Jo-Ann Emilene De Belen, DAP President and Chief Executive Officer Engelbert Caronan, Jr., OPAPP Secretary Carlito Galvez, Jr., BTA Parliament Speaker Atty. Ali Pangalian Balindong with members of the BTA Parliament (second row) during the MOA signing ceremony last July 25 in Cotabato City.

The Development Academy of the Philippines entered into an agreement with the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) and the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) through a signing ceremony last July 25 in Cotabato City among DAP President and Chief Executive Officer Engelbert C. Caronan, Jr., OPAPP Secretary Carlito G. Galvez, Jr., and BTA Parliament Speaker Atty. Ali Pangalian M. Balindong.

Secretary Galvez disclosed that DAP has previously worked with the ARMM government. He said that the partnership with DAP paved the way for improving the region’s economy. Likewise, the DAP has assisted the Bangsamoro Board of Investments in its reorganization efforts.  Meanwhile, Speaker Balindong expressed his pleasure at having the DAP helping the BARMM set up its offices and institutions.  “I am certain that you will be able to come up with a new BARMM bureaucracy which is efficient and responsive to the needs of our constituents,” he said.

Through this new agreement, the  DAP will extend technical assistance to the BTA Ad Hoc Committee on Creation of Offices  by: (a)  providing experts to conduct a basic orientation on organizational development for the Committee and key staff of concerned line agencies; (b) providing consultancy services for the development of organizational structures and staffing patterns during Committee hearings and consultations; and, (c) preparing guidelines for the Committee in crafting of law/s on the creation of offices.

“We are not the one who will make the proposal, we will only facilitate the process. It is your intentions, it is your aspirations that has to appear, that has to be seen in the work that we are going to be facilitating,” DAP President Caronan said.  Cabinet Secretary Karlo Alexei Nograles, who also graced the event, supported Caronan’s statement by saying that the Bangsamoro government will be the main actors and decision-makers, and the DAP will only provide assistance.

On the other hand, the OPAPP will provide funding for the project while the BTA Ad Hoc Committee on the Creation of Offices and its partners will create the organizational structures and draft the bills that will create these offices.

Nine priority BARMM offices will be created through the Ad Hoc Committee. These include the following:  Ministry of Human Settlements and Development; Ministry of Public Order and Safety; Office on Youth; Office on Women; Office on Settler Communities; Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office; Planning and Development Office; Office of the Attorney-General; and, Office of the BTA.

This technical assistance project is in fulfillment of the DAP’s commitment to the Bangsamoro Organic Law (RA 11054) that mandates national government agencies to provide assistance to the BARMM.  –Joanne Nuque