(Eagle News) — Anak Mindanao Party-list Rep. Sitti Djalia Turabin-Hataman has resigned from her post to return to community work.
Hataman, wife of Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao governor Mujiv Hataman, made the announcement in a privilege speech on Monday.
“This was no easy decision, and perhaps the craziest I’ve done so far. But those who know me, and knew my soul, have long suspected I was longing to be back home,” she said.
She said the Marawi conflict “brought me to so many questions and self-reflections, thoughts of where I am and where I am most needed.”
She said certain groups have taken advantage of the “youth’s frustration over the seeming loss of our struggles, the imminent failure to realize our aspirations.”
“Had I remained in the communities as one of them, and spoke to them of peace, perhaps I could have convinced a child or two that it is possible,” she said.
She said she came to the conclusion that the “fight” was “no longer anywhere but in our very communities and homes.”
” …The hearts and minds we so desperately need to win over are not anyone else’s but the hearts and minds of our own children,” she said.
Bangsamoro Basic Law
She made one last appeal for members in the Lower House to pass the Bangsamoro Basic Law, calling it “probably” the “last opportunity” to “win back our people.”
“I leave appealing to your compassiinnand discernment, with hope in our leaders, and faith un the President to make true his vow to pass the BBL…As I go back, may this be a gift I can offer them from you, not a gift as a token of benevolence, but a gift we truly deserve, not just from the House of Representatives, not just from this administration but from the Filipino people,” she said.
With her resignation, the partylist group’s third nominee, Amihilda Sangcopan, takes her place.