The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) will coordinate with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) in ensuring sufficient funding for its social protection programs for the Province of Sulu, Secretary Rex Gatchalian said on Monday, September 16.

During the Senate Committee on Finance’s deliberation of the agency’s proposed 2025 budget, DSWD Secretary Gatchalian assured that they will continue to fund Sulu’s social protection programs, amid the Supreme Court’s (SC) ruling that excluded the province from the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

“We took cognizance of the Supreme Court ruling carving out Sulu from the BARMM area…what we plan to do is to work with the DBM on trying to carve back the portion that was intended for Sulu’s administrative cost para mabalik sa Central Office and we can augment sa Region 9 (Zamboanga Peninsula) where Sulu will historically be part of,” the DSWD Secretary remarked.

The Republic Act No. 11054 or the Bangsamoro Organic Law was enacted on July 2018 and established BARMM as a political entity. The SC’s declaration was done after the Sulu province rejected the law’s ratification in a plebiscite in 2019.