MARAWI CITY--The Regional Bangsamoro Board of Investments (BBOI) said in a press statement that it passed a resolution to expedite the approval of the draft of the Regional Investment and Incentives Law or the “Bangsamoro Investment Code”.

Under the resolution, a Regional BBOI Inter-Agency Technical Working Group (TWG) will be formed to review the draft bill. The TWG shall be composed of the Regional BBOI, headed by its Chairman Atty. Ishak Mastura, ex-officio members of the Board of Governors such as the Ministers of the Ministry of Finance and Budget and Management (MFBM), the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Agrarian Reform (MAFAR), and the Ministry of Trade, Investments and Industry (MTIT), and the legislative staff from the legislative and parliamentary office of the Chief Minister.

The Bangsamoro Investment Code aims to establish the regional BBOI on a "more stable footing" after last year’s enactment of President Rodrigo Duterte's flagship legislation — the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises or CREATE law.

CREATE law provides uniform fiscal incentives to investors for all the Investment Promotion Agencies in the country, including the BARMM’s board of investments.

On April 2, 2022, Board of Governor Mohamad Pasigan brought a copy of the initial draft of the Bangsamoro Investment Code to BARMM Chief Minister Ahod Ebrahim who commended the board for drafting it.

“Bangsamoro Investment Code is one of the priority legislation of the current administration and it’s my pleasure to be the principal author or sponsor of the said measure under the Parliamentary set-up in the BARMM, wherein the executive and legislative bodies of government are fused,” Chief Minister Ebrahim said.

Due to the importance of legislating the Code and ensuring the participation of the Office of the Chief Minister-Bangsamoro Transition Authority (OCM-BTA), Ebrahim issued a memo to Atty. Aisa Pendinatar, the Supervising Political Affairs Officer III, of the said office to represent the OCM-BTA as a member of the TWG for the proposed Bangsamoro Investment Code.

The press statement also stated that after its review, the next phase will be the tabling of the draft bill with the BARMM Cabinet for its endorsement before its submission or filing in the BTA Parliament. (Kasan M. Usop, Jr./BIO)