Sulu funding for 2025 still part of BARMM budget: Pangandaman

Department of Budget and Management Secretary Amenah Pangandaman (File Photo: Department of Budget and Management/Facebook)

By Ruth Abbey Gita-Carlos, Philippine News Agency

MANILA – The funds that Sulu will get for 2025 are still included in the proposed budget earmarked for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said Wednesday.

“The Bangsamoro government is also working on their budget now. At napag-usapan po (And we discussed) during our IGRB (Intergovernmental Relations Body) meeting that the funding for 2025 for Sulu will still be part of their budget,” she said during the Kapihan sa Manila Bay.

Pangandaman said the national and BARMM governments had agreed to continue providing a budget to Sulu until the Supreme Court (SC) makes a final decision on the province’s status

She said the government has contingency plans for Sulu, including creating a technical working group tasked to develop guidelines to ensure minimal disruption to essential services in the province.

Pangandaman said there is no need for a supplemental budget for Sulu, noting that there is a contingent fund in the General Appropriations Act, in case the SC ruling becomes final.

“We’re still waiting for the finality of the Supreme Court decision. It’s executory pero hindi pa po iyan (but not yet) final,” she said.

“In the meantime, we’re getting ready. Nagpi-prepare po kami (We’re preparing). We’re working on a technical working group, assuming na may mangyari na lang po, contingent plan para hindi po kabahan ang ating mga kababayan sa Sulu (something will happen. There is a contingent plan so that our countrymen in Sulu would not panic),” Pangandaman added.

The IGRB, composed of representatives of the national and Bangsamoro governments, met on Oct. 11 to discuss the SC ruling on Sulu’s exclusion from the BARMM.

The SC, in a unanimous decision dated Sept. 9, 2024, ruled that Sulu is not part of the BARMM, citing the province’s rejection of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) during the 2019 plebiscite.

The BOL, enacted on July 27, 2018, is the legal framework establishing the BARMM’s governance and political structure.