By Romer S. Sarmiento, BusinessWorld

 

KORONADAL CITY -- The investment growth achieved in the last five years in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) could be stunted by the passage of a diluted Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), local officials said.

 

Ishak V. Mastura, chair of the ARMM’s Regional Board of Investments (RBoI), urged lawmakers to pass the original version of the BBL, which will create a new Bangsamoro geographical and political entity that will replace the ARMM.

He issued the call following the RBoI-organized “Forum on the Economic Impact of the BBL: Original Draft vs. Substitute Bills” on Wednesday in Cotabato City.

“Passing a BBL that gives less autonomy than the ARMM will have a negative impact on investments in the region,” Mr. Mastura said in a statement.

The substitute bills are currently pending before the House of Representatives and Senate plenaries.

Mr. Mastura said the substitute measure in the House of Representatives, House Bill 5811, removes the incentives currently enjoyed by investors in the ARMM.

“Such drastic changes in the rules for investments in the region will not only deprive investors of their “vested rights” but undermine the current upsurge in ARMM investments, which has reached P5.5 billion alone this year, the highest ever recorded in its 25-year history,” Mr. Mastura said.

RBoI data show P3.867 billion worth of investments were generated in 2014, more than double than the P1.463 billion the previous year. In 2012 and 2011, investors put in P569 million and P1.6 billion, respectively.

Mr. Mastura added that the House of Representatives’ substitute bill could also derail the telecommunication investment of East Asia (EA) Trilink Corp., which would install a submarine cable linking Mindanao to Sabah, Malaysia under the BIMP-EAGA Submarine Terrestrial Cable project.

The ARMM’s Regional Legislative Assembly (RLA) granted EA Trilink the franchise to operate telecommunication facilities in the ARMM in 1996. The company registered its P1.5 billion project with the ARMM-RBoI in 2011.

Any extension of the life of the franchise would need legislation by the ARMM RLA.

If the BBL that is passed by Congress will not provide for autonomous legislative powers for the Bangsamoro government with regard to transportation and communications as currently enjoyed by the ARMM, this would then affect the EA Trilink project, Mr. Mastura explained.

ARMM Governor Mujiv S. Hataman, for his part, also cautioned lawmakers against approving a “watered-down” version of the Bangsamoro law.

The Senate’s substitute version, called the Basic Law for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (BLBAR), has more deletions from the BBL than the House version.

The BLBAR was submitted by Senator Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., chair of the committee on local government and the ad hoc committee that reviewed the BBL.

“We are concerned over apprehensions that the substitute version no longer stands for the aspirations of the Moro people for a genuine independence and self-rule,” Mr. Hataman said.

A diluted BBL, he added, “will only worsen the lives of Moro people in Mindanao.”

The creation of a new Bangsamoro region is the key feature of the peace accord signed by the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front last year.