By Jess Diaz, Philippine Star

 

MANILA, Philippines - The House of Representatives appropriations committee last night approved funding for the proposed new Bangsamoro autonomous region in Mindanao amounting to nearly P37 billion for 2016.

 

Approval by the committee chaired by Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab followed similar action by the committee on ways and means chaired by Marikina Rep. Miro Quimbo on the powers of taxation of the autonomous Muslim region.

 

The two panels rushed their respective votes on the appropriation and taxation provisions of the House version of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) in time for today’s scheduled plenary deliberations on the measure.

 

Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, chairman of the ad hoc committee on the draft BBL, and his vice chairmen will alternately defend their chamber’s version of the proposed law on the Bangsamoro autonomous region.

 

Ungab said the P37-billion funding for 2016 is more than P12 billion more than this year’s P24.3-billion budget of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), which the new Bangsamoro region would replace.

 

“This is an allocation for peace and development. We are confident that the regional government, when formed, will use the money wisely,” he said.

 

As approved by the Ungab committee, P26.8 billion of the funding would be called block grant as provided for in the draft BBL, P7 billion would be in the form of a special development fund, P1 billion in transition fund, and P2 billion would be national internal revenue tax collections in the region.

 

The region’s budget will go down to P36 billion in 2017 before increasing to P41.1 billion in 2018, P46.2 billion in 2019 and P52.9 billion in 2020.

 

The funding levels will be in addition to whatever local fees that the region may impose and collect.

 

The amounts exclude internal revenue allotment (IRA) due the five provinces that would compose the Bangsamoro region. IRA represents the share of local government units from national taxes.

 

The IRA allocations of Maguindanao, Tawi-Tawi, Sulu, Basilan, and Lanao del Sur will amount to P19.8 billion next year, P22.2 billion in 2017, P24.8 billion in 2018, P27.3 billion in 2019, and P29.8 billion in 2020.

 

The approved funding levels also exclude allocations of various national government agencies for the Bangsamoro region.

 

Batangas Rep. Raneo Abu said the Department of Public Works and Highways alone has P25 billion this year for numerous projects in the ARMM provinces.

 

All told, he said the total amount of taxpayers’ money that would pour into the planned new Muslim region could be as much as P80 billion a year, which is close to the previous estimate of P75 billion.

 

The appropriations committee approved the funding figures after proposing an amendment in the draft BBL that would subject the Bangsamoro budget to execution and accountability guidelines prescribed by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

 

Antipolo Rep. Romeo Acop said funding for the new Muslim region “is perhaps the most contentious issue” in the proposed BBL.

 

“We have to be clear on the figures. The votes of many of our colleagues who feel their regions might be disadvantaged by seemingly huge allocations for the new region depend on clarifying this issue,” he said.

 

Zamboanga City Rep. Celso Lobregat sought data from the DBM on regional fund allocations to determine which regions are getting more and which are getting less in terms of per capita funding.

 

“I have been asking for this information from the DBM and they have not furnished us the data,” he said.

 

The House hopes to approve the proposed BBL by June 11, when Congress ends its second regular session.

 

MILF chief attends OIC meet

 

Moro Islamic Liberation Front chairman Murad Ebrahim has been invited to address the foreign ministers of the 57-state Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) during its 42nd Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers to be held in Kuwait starting today. 

 

Murad is expected to tackle the issue on the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law which is pending in Congress and the Senate. 

 

OIC Secretary-General Iyad bin Amin Madani also invited Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario to attend the OIC foreign ministers meeting. 

 

However, Del Rosario could not attend but instead sent DFA Undersecretary Rafael Seguis on his behalf to the OIC meet. 

 

Seguis will be joined by Secretary Yasmin Busran-Lao of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos and Undersecretary Jose Lorena of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, comprising the three-man government delegation to the OIC conference. 

 

Aside from closed-door sessions and those restricted to OIC member-states only, the Philippine delegation was given access to observe the proceedings.

 

Meanwhile, senior leaders of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the MILF, who comprise the OIC-sponsored Bangsamoro Coordination Forum (BCF) are also expected to hold a meeting on the sidelines of the event in Kuwait.  

 

The invitation to the gathering in Kuwait is an offshoot of Madani’s four-day visit to the Philippines last April, where he met President Aquino to discuss ways on how the OIC can help the Bangsamoro peace process.

 

The visit enabled Madani to get a comprehensive view of developments in the peace process in Mindanao, especially the progress of the peace deal between the MILF and Philippine government.

 

The OIC head extended his invitation to the Philippine government and members of BCF to meet in Kuwait to achieve a common ground amid the developments in the southern peace process.

 

Madani stressed the BBL is part of the continuing process in finding a political solution to address the root causes of the conflict in Mindanao.

 

“We hope that it will pass and it will not be diluted,” Madani earlier said after meeting with various groups during a recent visit here. - With Jose Rodel Clapano, Edith Regalado