Statement of
Senator Juan Miguel F. Zubiri
in Celebration of Eid'l Adha
30 July 2020

I join our Islamic brothers in the commemoration of Eid'l Adha most especially in the Bangsamoro as well as in numerous Islamic communities nationwide. The National Government will consistently support the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) as they execute their mandates.

As of now, they have drafted three of the most important documents of a full-fledged government: the Administrative, Civil Service and Local Government Codes. Likewise, they already adopted a three-year Bangsamoro Development Plan for 2020 to 2022 prioritizing infrastructure projects such as airports to boost the economy such as tourism, protection of forest resources, land acquisition for government agencies & shelter.

At the crosshairs of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bangsamoro adopted measures such as blended learning methods, cash assistance to civil servants such as teachers, building hundreds of isolation centers, implementing a region-wide anti-polio vaccination campaign, attending to Locally-Stranded Individuals returning to the Bangsamoro and relocating Internally Displaced Persons.

I also echo the appeals of our Muslim brothers to the National Government to speed up the rehabilitation of Marawi since its 5-month siege in 2017 which affected 98% of its population. The same appeal is heard from displaced families in the 2013 Zamboanga siege. Reconstruction is never easy as the BARMM and other Local Governments has had to build from the ground.

However, there is optimism because our Muslim countrymen are united and the National Government commit to deliver the promises in the Bangsamoro Organic Law. The BOL had just turned two years last Sunday July 26 following closely at the cusp of the grand pilgrimage culmination or, Eid'l Adha.