By Ali Macabalang COTABATO CITY – The Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) has authorized Interim Chief Minister Murad Ebrahim to work for the release of national funds for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), which President Rodrigo Duterte inaugurated last Friday. In its first parliamentary session that day, the BTA passed four resolutions, two of which empowered Ebrahim to “request the release of the transition fund” and “to request for the transfer of the current year’s appropriations for the ARMM to the BARMM.” President Rodrigo Roa Duterte shares a light moment with Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Interim Chief Minister Al Haj Murad Ebrahim on the sidelines of the inauguration of BARMM at the Shariff Kabunsuan Cultural Complex in Cotabato City on March 29, 2019. Also in the photo is Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Carlito Galvez Jr. (KARL NORMAN ALONZO / PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN) Under R.A. 11054 or the Bangsamoro Organic Law, the national government must allocate a P1.2-billion “transition fund” for the new region’s initial operations. It also abolished the 29-year Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), and the P32-billion budget appropriated for this year will go to BARMM. The parliamentary resolutions were passed earlier purportedly for the presentation of the excerpts on the two budget-related measures to President Duterte. But in his nine-minute speech, the President did not mention budget concerns for the new entity, reiterating only his general description of BARMM as a potential avenue to help “correct historical injustices of the past” among Moro communities. In his welcome address at the inauguration ceremony, Ebrahim also did not mention BARMM’s financial woes, pointing out only the prospects of the fledgling region in the dawning of “new beginning for Bangsamoro” and his administration’s adherence to good governance prescribed by law and Islamic principles. In a radio interview Thursday, Ebrahim said BARMM’s leadership expected the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to release within this April funds for maintenance and operations as well as salaries of the 37,000 former workers of ARMM serving the new regional government on a holdover capacity. While waiting for national funding, officials and staff appointed by Ebrahim in 10 initially constituted ministries will be considered as volunteers. Ebrahim’s radio announcement followed some posts on Facebook purporting that BARMM’s holdover rank-and-file personnel were anxious about delayed salaries in March and partly in February this year. Manila Bulletin sources from the regional education sector said the delayed release forced many teachers as well as elementary and secondary public school officials in BARMM to take out loans so they could hold graduation ceremonies. The sources attributed the delay to the late submission of BARMM officials’ statements of assets, liabilities and net-worth (SALN) to the national government.