BARMM lawmakers file a bill institutionalizing support for orphans

COTABATO CITY— A proposed measure that would institutionalize a comprehensive support program to provide social welfare and care for orphans in the Bangsamoro region has been introduced by Bangsamoro legislators.

Parliament Bill No. 143, also known as the Bangsamoro Orphanage Act of 2023, covers all orphaned minors in the region who shall be monitored and evaluated by the monitoring and evaluating system for orphaned minors.

Orphaned minors, as described in PB No. 143, are those children who are below 18 years old, do not have legal guardians, and have lost both biological parents.

According to Member of Parliament Susana Anayatin, primary author of the bill, “this is more than support, for this will give them a safe and happy life.”

Under the bill, a monitoring and evaluating system will be formed to lead the creation of a credible mechanism to determine the eligible beneficiaries and create the appropriate model for the orphanages in the respective community.

It will be composed of the Ministry of Social Services and Development; provincial, municipal, and city welfare development offices; the Ministry of Interior and Local Government Unit; provincial, local, and barangay local government units; and traditional leaders and Ulama or Imam from each province of the Bangsamoro region.

Once PB No. 143 is approved, orphanages will be built in every province in the Bangsamoro region.

By the end of the transition period, at least two orphanages in each province will have received certification through the MSSD, and by 2025, there will be at least one recognized orphanage for every local government unit.

The bill’s Comprehensive Support Program will serve as a mechanism to provide orphans with social welfare and care. Orphans will be provided with basic needs, physical safety and security, socio-economic, educational, emotional, and spiritual needs, and access to justice.

The orphan is no longer eligible for the program once they reach the age of 18 or have been adopted.

“We, in the BTA Parliament, have a huge opportunity to change the lives of the orphans. We want to support efforts to end child poverty, to plant seeds of hope in the lives of these children, to give them a chance to rise above circumstance and become useful members of society,” said MP Anayatin said.

PB No. 143 is also co-authored by MPs Aida Silongan, Abdullah Hashim, Ust. Abdullah Gayak, Bai Maleiha Candao, Diamila Disimban-Ramos, Prof. Eddie Alih, Haron Abas, Hussein Munoz, Ibrahim Ali, Nabila Margarita Pangandaman, Dr. Marjanie Macasalong, Mohammad Yacob, Mudjib Abu, Atty. Nabil Tan, Atty. Rasol Mitmug Jr., Jaafar Apollo Mikhail Matalam, Abdulazis Amenoden, Benjamin Loong, Ali Solaiman, Nurredha Misuari, and Abdulkarim Misuari. (LTAIS-Public Information, Publication, and Media Relations Division)