Tawi-Tawi opposes nat’l gov’t’s plan to buy Bangsamoro property in Zamboanga City

By PMT Desk Staff

OPPOSITION ON THE PURCHASE OF CABATANGAN COMPLEX: The province of Tawi-Tawi has expressed opposition to the plan of the national government to purchase the Cabatangan Complex. (Supplied photo)

BONGAO, Tawi-Tawi — The Tawi-Tawi provincial government has joined other BaSulTa provinces of Basilan and Sulu in opposing the national government’s move to purchase the Bangsamoro property at Barangay Cabatangan in Zamboanga City.

Board Member Hasanal Jeoffrey Sali, Tawi-Tawi ABC President, and Kausar Aming, Acting Information Officer II, represented the provincial government in a recent dialogue facilitated by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace Process (OPAPP) and select Members of Parliament from the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

Sali expressed the provincial government’s stand against the intent of the national government to purchase the 72-hectare land situated in Cabatangan in unison to the opposition of the rest of BaSulTa provinces, highlighting that the subject land is a property of the Bangsamoro people while correcting the misinformation about rights and ownership of the then Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) government.

The BaSulTa representatives made a strong call for more inclusive and impartial consultations with stakeholders about the historically and legally owned and valued Cabatangan property of the Bangsamoro people.

The 72-hectare lot remains the property of the Bangsamoro people despite the exclusion of Zamboanga City in the BARMM following the enactment of the Bangsamoro Organic Law in 2018, the local government said.

The subject property known as the Cabatangan Complex or the Lupong Tagapagpaganap ng Pook was acquired for the Bangsamoro people before the creation of the ARMM political entity in 1989. (PMT