About the forum

Presented by IAG in partnership with Notre Dame of Jolo College, with support from the Facility for Advisory Support for Transition Capacities (FASTRAC) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

In pictures: Forum on the BBL in Jolo

 

This forum came six days after the bloody January 25 Mamasapano clash. Hearings on the BBL at the House and Senate were temporarily suspended in deference to the ongoing investigation on the incident.

 

BTC Commissioner Peter Eisma clarified however that this does not mean Congress is totally abandoning the BBL, adding that the peace process has already gained a lot and it would be more productive to continue legislating the proposed basic law.

 

“This process is not a rose garden. There are many challenges on the way; Mamasapano is one of them. Let’s be firm on our resolve to bring peace in Mindanao,” he said.

 

The government remains committed to the peace process, the BBL particularly, OPAPP legal counsel Al-Amin Julkipli, also a panelist in the forum, said.

 

In a statement released earlier, the MILF admitted that the Mamasapano incident will continue to weigh down peace efforts until facts surrounding the encounter are established with credibility and integrity. The same statement reiterated the group’s “full commitment” to the peace process. The MILF also announced it is setting up a special investigation body to get to the bottom of the incident.

 

Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., chair of the Senate committee on local government spearheading the hearings on the BBL at the Senate, ordered the temporary suspension of all discussions and hearings related to the passage of the BBL a day after the bloody Mamasapano clash.

 

“We cannot in conscience, proceed with these hearings while a cloud of serious doubt hangs over the security situation in the south,” the senator said in a press release.

 

Atty. Julkipli told the forum that the announcement of suspensions and postponement of activities relating to the passage of the BBL should not be construed as stoppage of the process to pass the basic law that will establish the new Bangsamoro entity. Peace in Mindanao remains a top agenda of the government, he said.

 

The suspension will give time to investigation, which hopefully will result to a complete picture of what transpired in Mamasapano. This is important as the result will also inform the legislation of the BBL on substantive matters like peace and security.

 

Atty. Julkipli noted that the Senate committee on constitutional amendments chaired by Sen. Miriam Santiago has signified its intention to proceed with the hearing on constitutional issues surrounding the proposed BBL. For him, this is an indication that the BBL is still on track despite the challenges presented by the Mamasapano incident. The panel argued that the peace process should not be held hostage to the uncertainties opened by this unwanted development.

 

“It has to continue precisely to stop incidents like this happening in the future,” IAG executive director and forum moderator Benedicto Bacani concurred.

 

While details of the Mamasapano incident were being probed, a positive development emerged from Kuala Lumpur after government and MILF negotiators signed on January 30 the protocol on the implementation of the terms of reference of the Independent Decommissioning Body (IDB) for the decommissioning of weapons and combatants of the MILF. The implementing guidelines lay out the steps for the inventory of MILF arms and personnel, verification of this inventory by the IDB, and where and how the MILF arms will be kept and put beyond use, among others. The IDB is the body tasked to oversee the decommissioning of MILF weapons and forces. It is chaired by an expert from Turkey, with two other foreign member-experts from Norway and Brunei and four local experts jointly nominated by the government and the MILF.

 

“This is one of the concrete measures we should take so that the bloody Mamasapano incident will not happen again,” Atty. Julkipli said.

 

‘BBL is inclusive’

 

The BBL is being touted as one way to address peace and order problems, poverty, marginalization, and injustice. But these are very big and general terms. A better way to fine-tune and appreciate the BBL at the policy level is to view it from the perspective of ordinary people and link it to their lives and the problems they encounter every day, Atty. Bacani mused.

 

Com. Eisma has been addressing in many forums concerns on whether or not the proposed BBL is inclusive or who will benefit from it once it is enacted and implemented. His background, being the sole voice in the BTC of migrant Christian settlers, lends weight to his contention that all inhabitants in the Bangsamoro territory, regardless of faith or ethnicity, is assured of equal protection in terms of rights, and representation and participation in governance, as well.

 

“That the Bangsamoro is for the MILF only is not true. We made the BBL to be inclusive of the tri-people – the Muslims, Christians, and indigenous peoples,” Com. Eisma explained.

 

‘BBL promotes unity’

 

Besides being responsive to the pluralistic society the law will cater to, the BBL will also promote unity, Atty. Julkipli said. He discounted apprehensions that the measure once in place will cause the dismemberment of the country.

 

Atty. Julkipli believes that the BBL has clearly established that the Bangsamoro is part of the Philippines and any implications to be derived from this will impact positively on nation-building. This is so because the BBL, he pointed out, is in fact strengthening the ties between the new autonomous region and the rest of the Philippines by clarifying where the Bangsamoro will be in relation to the central government in Manila and the other administrative regions in terms of governance and economy.

 

This view of the BBL leads to another perspective worth revisiting – the feeling of marginalization, one of the root causes of rebellion in Muslim Mindanao and the rationale behind the need to have a new Bangsamoro autonomous region that is responsive to the aspirations of the Bangsamoro people.

 

BTC Com. Fatmawati Salapuddin said this feeling of marginalization could take on many hues because people are seeing their world from different lenses. Women, for instance, may have a different take on the issue given the perceived dominance of men in social and cultural systems and so there is a need to ensure that they are represented adequately and properly in Bangsamoro governance. For the people of Sulu, the obvious lament is their geography. As Com. Salapuddin put it, “We are marginalized because we’re coming from a very remote province.” And so the common predicament is, could the BBL make the Bangsamoro government more accessible to its constituent units in the islands?

 

Listening to Com. Eisma’s defense of the proposed basic law he, Com. Salapuddin, and the rest of their colleagues in the BTC have drafted, could be very reassuring. At the level of the BTC, Com. Eisma is confident that the basic law they wrote – and later submitted to the legal team of the President for review and which is now in Congress – while answering the aspiration for self-governance of the Bangsamoro people, does not violate the Constitution. Time also mattered in the decision of the BTC to fit the basic law within constitutional parameters knowing fully well that there is not much a luxury of that to even consider amending the Constitution under the present administration.

 

The draft BBL is now in Congress, and if some individuals or sectors feel it could be improved further, there is still time to lobby legislators at the House and Senate who will ultimately decide on the final form – and fate – of the BBL, Com. Salapuddin added.

 

‘BBL addresses gaps in the ARMM’

 

There are issues on autonomy in the ARMM that the BBL seeks to resolve. Atty. Julkipli called autonomy in the current setup “anomalous” and “imperfect.”

 

“Instead of the national government letting go of certain competencies to the regional government, it held on to these, including funds. On education, for instance, the national government devolved personnel to the ARMM but reserved some authorities and funds,” he lamented.

 

With the BBL, the panel is optimistic that there would be full devolution to the Bangsamoro. “The budget of the Bangsamoro should be in the block grant, not lodged in national line agencies,” Atty. Julkipli said.

 

The proposed BBL enumerates 58 powers that will be devolved to and exercised exclusively by the Bangsamoro Government. Many of these powers though already granted to the ARMM in Republic Act 9054 remain unfunded mandates to this day; the budget is with the national line agencies. This is where gaps in terms of timely and effective delivery of programs and services come in.

 

According to Com. Eisma, the BBL will evolve these exclusive powers so that funds will be devolved alongside them.

 

Com. Salapuddin explained that the block grant will serve as the budget of the Bangsamoro and likened it to the Internal Revenue Allotment of local government units, meaning it will be automatically appropriated to the Bangsamoro Government and reflected in the General Appropriations Act and downloaded to the region. At the regional level, the Bangsamoro Parliament will further break down the block grant to allocate it to various agencies and programs by passing an annual appropriations law to authorize its spending. Needless to say that an enhanced political autonomy would also require an improved fiscal autonomy. But will the benefits trickle down equitably to people on the ground? Com. Eisma thinks so.

 

The BBL categorization of powers has been hailed as a breakthrough in the negotiations and a big step towards genuine autonomy. Interestingly, it is not only autonomy at the level of the regional government that will benefit from this newfound autonomy but the constituent local government units as well. Genuine autonomy entails that the Bangsamoro Government will be primarily responsible for and exercise the exclusive powers outlined in the BBL.

 

“But in reality, it is the smaller constituent local government unit taking care of these functions in terms of actually delivering the services,” Atty. Julkipli explained. The BBL gives room to further decentralization so that after aiming for genuine political autonomy by devolving competencies from the national to the regional government, it also mandates the latter to devolve these powers to local government units under it.

 

The BBL assigns regulation of the Bangsamoro constituent local government units to the regional government. It states that “the Bangsamoro Government will manage and build its own bureaucracy and administrative organization, in accordance with the ministerial form of government.”

 

The BBL takes its cue from the ARMM and wants to avoid this time unclear devolution and delineation of powers. The administration of the local government units within the Bangsamoro will be detailed further in the local government code that will be enacted by the regional government. The code should guarantee that there will be authorities or competencies that will be transferred from the regional level to the constituent units in addition to ensuring smooth intergovernmental relations, Atty. Julkipli said.

 

The BBL also seeks to introduce in the Bangsamoro the Council of Leaders which shall be composed of the chief minister, provincial governors, mayors of chartered cities, sectoral representatives, non-Moro indigenous peoples, women and settler communities. The body will advise the chief minister on matters of governance in the Bangsamoro. This setup, according to Atty. Julkipli, will automatically create a direct link among the regional government, local chief executives, civil society organizations and peoples’ organizations. “There is really an effort [in the BBL] to design an institutional link on one hand and a structure on the other in terms of policy,” he added.

 

A local government official himself as councilor in Isabela City in Basilan before his appointment to the BTC, Com. Eisma also assuaged lingering fears of local officials that some of their privileges, the IRA foremost, will be affected once the BBL is enacted and implemented. He pointed to the provision in the BBL, which states that “the privileges already enjoyed by the local government units under existing laws shall not be diminished unless otherwise altered, modified or reformed for good governance in accordance with a law to be enacted by the Bangsamoro Parliament.” This is a guarantee that should the proposed local government units opt to join in the Bangsamoro, their IRA will not be reduced. If anything, local government funds could even be increased from their share on the revenues that will be generated within the Bangsamoro.

 

“The Bangsamoro Parliament will enact a law that will detail the share of the constituent local government units from the enhanced wealth sharing scheme and new devolved taxes in addition to the IRA,” Com. Eisma concluded.

 

Summary of questions from the audience, answers and comments from the panel

 

■An impression that the panel is selling the BBL was raised. This seemed to come from the commenter’s stance that the Constitution already granted autonomy to the Muslim region in the form of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) through Republic Act 6734 that was amended later by Republic Act 9054 and it can never be undone. “Isn’t the BBL effectively abolishing ARMM to create the Bangsamoro?” She asked, sharing the view that the Bangsamoro seems to be no longer consistent with the Constitution.

 

Com. Salapuddin: We are not selling the BBL [because] we don’t know yet what is getting out of Congress. We are here to clarify some points in the draft that even ourselves cannot be certain at this point until Congress makes the final modifications in the draft. The House and the Senate will make sure that they will not pass an unconstitutional BBL.

 

Republic Acts 6734 and 9054 are important bases of the BBL, precisely for the reason that it seeks to address the gaps in the ARMM, according to Atty. Julkipli.

 

On the constitutionality of the BBL, Atty. Julkipli said: When we advocated the drafting of the BBL, we wanted a fresh start. One thing to remember is that the Constitution speaks of the organic law for the autonomous region, but the organic law there is in the generic sense. It is not specifically saying Republic Act 6734 and Republic Act 9054. The decision on what the organic law will look like depends on Congress. The process of amending Republic Act 6734 in Republic Act 9054 already indicates that the first organic law is not unchangeable. It is not shielded from any kind of development and reform. The same process is being done now through the BBL by building on Republic Acts 6734 and 9054.

 

■Cooperatives promote economic viability and social justice. It is an important instrument in nation-building to liberate the people from poverty. It seems that cooperative development is not in the BBL.

 

Com. Salapuddin said the BBL has enough measures to capture the interests of all groups and sectors including farmers and cooperatives.

 

■There are problems in the ARMM that hopefully the BBL will be able to address. Will the BBL be able to also address security issues in the region? This is in view of the recent Mamasapano incident.

 

The BBL devotes entire article to public order and safety, Atty. Julkipli said. A very important boost to security once the proposed BBL passed Congress is the Bangsamoro police, a regional police force for enforcing the law in the region. The BBL consciously tied its provisions on the Bangsamoro police force to the constitutional provision on one national police administered by one national police commission to fit it within the confines of the Constitution, he added.

 

■The 58 exclusive powers the BBL provides for the Bangsamoro would also entail additional funds. How can graft and corruption be prevented in the Bangsamoro?

 

Atty. Julkipli: There are two levels of auditing in the Bangsamoro. A Bangsamoro auditing office that will have auditing function over the funds of the Bangsamoro will be created without prejudice to the function of the national Commission on Audit that will continue to carry out its constitutional mandate in the Bangsamoro.

 

Atty. Julkipli also stressed that an appropriations law that will be passed by the Bangsamoro Parliament will govern the spending of the block grant. This is not practiced in the ARMM right now.

 

■Are the Badjaos also voters in the plebiscite for the ratification of the BBL? Are they participants in this process?

 

Com. Salapuddin: All registered voters in the area – whether Christian, Muslim, or Badjao – can participate in the plebiscite.

 

Com. Eisma: The Badjaos are very much a part of this process. The Badjao community in Basilan, for instance, have been active participant in the public hearings and even presented their position paper. We have conducted dialogue with them because the idea precisely is inclusivity. Even in Congress we have lawmakers who promised to champion inclusivity.

 

■What happens if the people voted no for BBL?

 

Atty. Julkipli: In a scenario where all provinces voted no, the ARMM stays, the BBL will not be operational; it will not be effected.

 

Atty. Julkipli also clarified how the votes will be determined: For the existing ARMM provinces, all votes cast in the province is the basis for determining the yes or no vote. For the six municipalities in Lanao del Norte, it will be determine at the municipal level. For the 39 barangays proposed to be included in the core territory, it will be at the barangay level.

 

Com. Salapuddin: Those units who voted yes will form part of the Bangsamoro. Those who voted no will be joining the administrative region closest to them. If Cotabato City voted no, for instance, it will remain under Region 12.

 

■The BBL seems to grant the Bangsamoro Government primary disciplinary authority over its officials and employees. Does this diminish the Ombudsman’s power to investigate elected and appointed officials or agencies in the Bangsamoro?

 

Atty. Julkipli: The BBL does not deprive the Ombudsman of its constitutional mandate. Right from the start of the BBL, in the Preamble, it is clear that it will be in consonance with the Constitution. We should read the BBL as fully respectful of all the constitutional powers that are provided to every constitutional office, the Office of the Ombudsman included. Therefore, the provision on primary authority in terms of discipline of officials or employees must be read without prejudice to the constitutional duty of the Ombudsman to investigate for purposes of accountability all officials in the country including those in the Bangsamoro.

 

■The BBL requires that one Bangsamoro inhabitant be appointed commissioner in each of the constitutional bodies of the national government. Isn’t this a violation of the right to equal protection of the law because it is automatically allotting the appointment to a Bangsamoro inhabitant, depriving other Filipino citizens of equal competence of the position?

 

Atty. Julkipli: The provision is a matter of policy, more of guidance than requirement. The President will still have to look into the competence and qualifications set by the Constitution or the law when he appoints, but as much as practicable, he may consider that for this position, a Bangsamoro inhabitant will be appointed.

 

Com. Eisma: The inhabitant there refers to the tri-people in the Bangsamoro. But this policy is not compulsory; hence it is not a reduction of the equal protection of the law.

 

■The BBL grants the Bangsamoro Parliament the power to pass a law that can provide longer term of office beyond the three consecutive years. Is this constitutional?

 

Atty. Julkipli: That provision is for the new electoral system that will be developed for the parliamentary system. But in view of the positions made, we are now studying to adopt a more practicable reframing of the term and term limit of the members of the parliament. The three-year term and three-term rule will be reserved so we do not disrupt what is in the Constitution. We have checked with legislators for this provision to be reworded to make it consistent with the Constitution.

 

■The BBL provides prosecutorial powers to the Bangsamoro human rights office that will be created. Will this not mean conflict between the national Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and the regional CHR?

 

Atty. Julkipli: There will be no conflict because the Bangsamoro human rights commission, although a parallel human rights office, will not be a counterpart of the national CHR. It will be a separate body. This is a need stated by the current ARMM Regional Human Rights Commission to be proposed in the BBL. We recognize that our human rights body should have more teeth especially in a region where human rights violations are very prevalent. We are studying together with Department of Justice (DOJ) how to operationalize details regarding the prosecutorial powers proposed for the Bangsamoro human rights commission.

 

■The parties should address lingering impressions that the Bangsamoro will be for the MILF only. Sulu is an MNLF area. The tripartite review of the 1996 Final Peace Agreement between the government and the MNLF has produced 42 consensus points. How will the BBL push though in light of these consensus points?

 

Atty. Julkipli: From the very beginning, we wanted to harmonize the MNLF peace track with the BBL. The 42 consensus points are already in the BBL. We are not rejecting or abrogating the MNLF peace agreement. It forms part of the foundation of the BBL.

 

■Is abolishing the ARMM also abolishing the 1996 FPA?

 

Atty. Julkipli: The 1996 FPA pushed for enhancement in the design of autonomous region. It did not specifically make reference to the ARMM. Even leaders from the MNLF have said that the ARMM did not significantly conform to the agreement. Although it is inspired by MNLF processes, the ARMM is not a direct product of the agreement. It is a unilateral enactment.

 

One of the problems with the ARMM is we do not have a direct link to the peace agreements. Congress in 2001 initiated enhancement of ARMM law [through Republic Act 9054] without direct link to the 1996 FPA. This is not saying that that the FPA has no influence over Republic Act 9054, but we should ask what is the relation between FPA and Republic Act 9054. With the BBL, we want that whatever is in the final agreement [Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro] will translate into actual law [BBL].

 

■What is mut’a? Doesn’t this word connote negatively because it means trial marriage?

 

Atty. Julkipli: The word refers to an existing application in Shari’ah with respect to marriage as found in Presidential Decree 1083 or the Code of Muslim Personal Laws. Its meaning should be limited to that code and it should not be construed negatively.

 

■Literally, the goal of normalization is to turn an “abnormal” situation to normal. The MILF will subject its weapons and personnel to decommissioning. But how could we normalize if the Abu Sayyaf, BIFF and other groups still have arms?

 

Atty. Julkipli: In the case of the MILF, their weapons will be inventoried and turned over to the IDB. Those weapons will be put beyond use, meaning these will never be used again by whomever for whatever purpose.

 

As a matter of policy, the issue on other armed groups is part of regular law enforcement. They will be dealt by regular law enforcement and other security arrangements.

 

■Won’t the appointment of officers-in-charge (OICs) in key agencies happen again under the Bangsamoro especially during the transition?

 

Com. Eisma: The BBL speaks of gradual phasing out of offices. The employees of the ARMM will still be governed by existing civil service laws even during the transition. There is no instant removal of offices. Right now, a coordinating team is studying arrangements on the transition. Foremost in their considerations is that the rights and entitlements of the current employees of the ARMM must be respected under the existing laws. What is clear in the draft BBL is that there should be no disruption in the delivery of government services to the people during the transition period.

 

■A commenter called on both Christians and Muslims to rally behind the BBL. “What’s in a name Bangsamoro?” What is important is that they join together in the proposed Bangsamoro, he said.

 

■Another commenter hailed the reforms underway in the current ARMM administration under Governor Mujiv Hataman. For the first time, the people are actually reaping the benefits of improved governance. With the BBL coming into the picture, however, it would seem that people will have to start from zero again, he said.

 

Com. Salapuddin stressed that unless the BBL is enacted by Congress and ratified in a plebiscite, the ARMM continues. She urged the audience to be part and watchful of the whole process, reminding them that the Bangsamoro identity does not strip them of their ethnic identities. It is merely a call to unite all tribes and peoples under one name that is Bangsamoro, she said.

 

She added: The dream of the MNLF and the MILF, which is peace and development for the Bangsamoro, is the same. The ARMM has been declared a failed experiment by no less than the President. The gains in good governance in the present regional administration remain to be seen if they are going to be sustainable in the long term. But right now, the BBL presents a fresh opportunity to realize the aspirations of the people in the Bangsamoro.

 

■What is the relationship of the Bangsamoro with the AFP in terms of defense and warding off insurgency?

 

Atty. Julkipli: The AFP as part of national security and external defense, a reserved power of the national government, will not be devolved to the Bangsamoro. There will be no other security forces to perform the task of the AFP in the Bangsamoro.

 

■How will human rights be protected in the Bangsamoro?

 

Atty. Julkipli: The national CHR will continue to carry out its constitutional mandate as the primary agency to protect human rights. Separate from the CHR is a Bangsamoro human rights office to be given prosecutorial powers in the performance of its duty within the Bangsamoro.

 

■What is this power of the Bangsamoro to create, divide, merge and alter boundaries of local government units?

 

Atty. Julkipli: It will empower the Bangsamoro Parliament to create, divide, merge, and alter boundaries, but of its constituent local government units only. The regulation and authority over its constituent local government units is guaranteed as one of the exclusive powers of the region to enable it to reconstitute its constituent units for purposes of good governance on the limitation that this will be pursuant to the local government code the Bangsamoro Parliament will enact. However if this move would affect congressional district, such as creating a province, it has to go through Congress, specifically the Bangsamoro Parliament–Congress forum.

 

■There are different customs and traditions in the Bangsamoro. How are these reconciled in governance that the BBL seeks to entrench?

 

Atty. Julkipli: The customs, traditions, and beliefs of the people in the Bangsamoro will serve as the basis of its governance system, but only those that are practicable will be adopted because we are putting up a secular government. It will not favor one sector at the expense of the other.