Photo Release

‘BGC’ members visit Senate: Senate President Francis “Chiz” G. Escudero (right) receives officials of a coalition of major political parties in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) at the Senate Ceremonial Hall Tuesday, July 23, 2024. The BARMM Grand Coalition (BGC) endorsed the candidacy of Sulu governor Sakur Tan as chief minister in the first ever Bangsamoro Parliament elections next year. Escudero clarified that he is not endorsing any candidate or political party in the BARMM elections, pointing out that any national government official should not interfere in their elections. The Senate leader said it is their right to choose their own officials and should not be appointed by the national government as what had happened in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). “It is important that our countrymen in the BARMM have the opportunity to choose and not just be dictated by our government. Give our countrymen the freedom to choose who will be their leader so that there will be accountability, so that they owe their position to the people," Escudero said in Filipino. The parliamentary elections in the BARMM would also show the viability of parliamentary form of government in the national level, he added. (Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau)