House dilutes peace measure to keep powers of Comelec, COA, Ombudsman, CSC, CHR, PNP

By Charissa Luci, Manila Bulletin

 

Despite appeals of Malacañang and the Moro Islamic Liberations Front (MILF), the House Ad hoc Committee on the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) has decided to scrap the unconstitutional provisions in the peace measure that would have removed the powers of six government agencies – the Commission on Elections (Comelec), Commission on Audit (COA), the Office of the Ombudsman, the Civil Service Commission (CSC), Commission on Human Rights (CHR), and the Philippine National Police (PNP) – over the Bangsamoro territory.

 

“In the proposed law, there’s no more Bangsamoro COA, Comelec, Civil Service, Ombudsman, Human Rights, and police,” Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, the ad hoc panel chairman, said.

 

But the deletion of such provisions would now entirely dilute the BBL, Rodriguez said.

 

“The main fundamental of the BBL is the power sharing, political autonomy, and fiscal autonomy … that’s the most important,” Rodriguez said.

 

“As far as the BBL is concerned, we have removed the unconstitutional provision providing another electoral body that would supervise election in the Bangsamoro region. That would be in violation of your constitutional mandate. We are upholding your exclusive jurisdiction on matters related to election,” Rodriguez said.

 

“Congress has no business in interfering in your mandate,” Rodriguez said.

 

Rodriguez said the other provisions that were deleted were creating their own internal audit body despite the presence of the COA; disciplining of public officials, a power to be taken away from the Office of the Ombudsman;  establishing own civil service and human rights bodies, and creating the Bangsamoro Police Force.

 

At yesterday’s House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms hearing, Rodriguez assured the Comelec that the 290-man Lower Chamber is keeping the poll body’s “exclusive jurisdiction” on poll-related matters.

 

He also noted the position papers of the Deans, the five governors of the Muslim provinces, and the Philippine Constitution Association (Philconsa) rejecting the creation of another electoral body for the Bangsamoro region.

 

“They believe in you, Comelec people, that you keep your constitutional mandate,” he said.

 

In response, Lim said they are “happy” with the ad hoc panel’s deletion of a provision allowing Bangsamoro to run its elections.

 

“We share the same view that it is unconstitutional,” he said.

 

UNDER CONSIDERATION

 

Rodriguez also said the panel is mulling over whether or not to scrap the provision allowing other areas outside the Bangsamoro territory to also join the entity upon a petition of at least 10 percent of its constituents as this may be declared illegal by the Supreme Court.

 

Negros Occidental Rep. Alfredo Benitez, head of the Visayan bloc in the Lower Chamber, said that the Department of Justice (DOJ) should be given bigger role in determining which provisions should be deleted.

 

“Let’s ask the legal opinion of the DOJ for Congress to know what parts of the BBL are unconstitutional,” he said.

 

Rodriguez said he is supportive of giving the Bangsamoro P75-billion fund allocation for its fiscal autonomy.

 

His panel is eyeing to pass the BBL in the committee level on May 18, which is three months late from its original Feb. 9 target.

 

The Rodriguez panel’s resumption of its executive sessions this week was postponed as the PNP Board of Inquiry (BOI) is set to submit its report to Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas on March 6 for President Aquino’s review.

 

Rodriguez said the chamber could hold a special session from June 11 to 25 if they fail to approve the BBL before the sine die adjournment of the second regular session of 16th Congress on June 11.

 

He had warned that the Lower Chamber may abandon the proposed creation of the Bangsamoro juridical entity if the MILF fails to surrender its erring commanders and members who were involved in the bloody anti-terror raid in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, last Jan. 25, branding the non-surrender of MILF’s erring elements as “deal breaker.”

 

He even asked Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to fast-track their comprehensive probe into the Mamasapano massacre.

 

He reiterated his panel’s vow “to improve” the provisions of the BBL “so that we will not have another incident like Mamasapano.”

 

RECAST BBL – MIRIAM

 

As the House of Representatives started diluting the BBL, Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago yesterday strongly advised President Aquino to recast the BBL because it is replete with constitutional infirmities.

 

In a press briefing for Senate reporters, Santiago said Malacañang, not by another branch of government,  should unilaterally form a review committee to address the constitutional issues in the BBL as crafted by its peace negotiating panel and leaders of the secessionist MILF.

 

She strongly suggested that Malacañang invite the noted constitutionalists she had invited in her committee hearing to point out the problematic constitutional issues that she felt should be done away with or addressed.

 

These same constitutional luminaries had testified before her committee that the BBL is unconstitutional, she said.

 

IT’S LEGAL – PALACE

 

But Malacañang stood firm on the legality of the BBL.

 

Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said 14 members of the Constitutional Commission that crafted the 1987 Constitution have said that there is nothing illegal with the proposed BBL.

 

Coloma noted that the members of the Constitutional Commission had said the proposed BBL focuses on human development and social justice.

 

Senators warned Malacañang that rushing the passage of the BBL could be more fatal to the country’s welfare.

 

Santiago said that as chairman of the Senate Constitutional Amendments Committee, it is not important to rush the approval of the BBL because those against it are certain to bring the constitutional issues surrounding the BBL before the Supreme Court (SC). She said she is confident that the SC would agree with her position that, among others, the creation of a sub-state within a state as provided the BBL is unconstitutional.

 

Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., chairman of the Senate Committee on Local Government, reminded Palace there are “critical issues that must be discussed in public hearings for the BBL to be inclusive and comprehensive.”

 

“Haste could be a fatal waste. The BBL is not a magic pill to stop the war in Mindanao, although it’s an important element in the quest for lasting peace. I will try to meet the proposed deadline. But I will not sacrifice the necessity of getting it right,” Marcos said in a statement.

 

Before the BBL hearings can resume, Marcos said he needs to wait for the reports of the inquiries on the Mamasapano incident conducted separately by the police and the MILF, as well as the committee report of the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs, chaired by Senator Grace Poe Llamanzares.

 

Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano for his part said there should first be justice served to the Fallen 44 SAF commandos before the BBL is passed.

 

“It should be the priority, vis-à-vis the peace process,” Cayetano said.

 

Cayetano noted that MILF leaders remain defiant and refuse to surrender those involved in the January 25 encounter. -- With reports from Mario B. Casayuran, Hannah L. Torregoza, and Madel Sabater Namit