The grant
of Bangsamoro Autonomous Region through the Bangsamoro Basic Law is
“alternative to independence or war,” Malacañang-convened Citizens Peace
Council said in its BBL review report which was submitted to the House of
Representatives on Monday.
The
Council was composed of Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, former
Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr., Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, Howard Dee and
Muslim Princess Bai Rohaniza Sumndad-Usman.
The report
related that, “A total of 136 participants joined the discussions in one or
more of the clusters reflecting these themes and separately
discussed the BBL from 8-17 April
before convening for the National Peace Summit on
18 April 2015.”
“When
reading the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law,
it is therefore presumed that all
Constitutional powers of government and
the Constitutional Commissions and bodies
remain intact, regardless of whether the law explicitly provides
for it or not,” the report said.
“There is
no creation of a separate kind of citizen, and no creation, virtual or
otherwise, of a political territory that is greater than the national
government that creates it, or beyond the reach of the Constitution that allows
it.”
“The grant
of regional autonomy is an alternative to independence or secession. But
more than that, the establishment of the Bangsamoro
Autonomous Region through the BBL must
be seen as an alternative to war.”
“Legislation,
therefore, in this context, should be
seen as a peace-building exercise. Legislators
are not only policy formulators, they become peace-builders,” underscored in
the Peace Council’s finding.
It was
further pointed out, “Autonomy and self-governance is
not equivalent to independence or statehood,”
but rather, “an acknowledgement of human diversity
and recognition that, despite decades of
trying, the different cultures had not been
served in any effective way by the
national government.”
“A law
creating an Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao, therefore, cannot be
expected to reiterate the same powers
or structures as our traditional political
subdivisions,” the report stated.
And thus,
“To expect an Autonomous Region to behave
like a province or city defeats the
purpose of autonomy. Similarly, to treat the Autonomous Regions like
other local government units
defeats the purpose of autonomy.”
To clarify
the issue on secession, the Council rundown its explanation as follows:
The BBL
does not make the Bangsamoro Government
a state. The provisions on “people,” “territory,”
and “self-determination” do not imply the creation of a separate state,
but are consistent with the
constitutionally mandated creation of autonomous
regions.
Though the
Bangsamoro will have a territory, people and its own government, much
like any other local government unit
in the Philippines, it remains part
of the republic as the BBL clearly declares.
An area
with its own defined territory, jurisdiction, or rules does
not make that territory independent from
its parent state. Both the Constitution
and the Local Government Code refers
to the areas of local government units as
“territories”.
The
inclusion of a definition of ‘Bangsamoro People’ in the BBL is only an
affirmation of identity, not a definition
of citizenship. The right of
self-determination is a right of all
peoples and is not equivalent to the
right to statehood.
Self-determination
is therefore generally understood to mean
what our own Supreme
Court has
described as “internal” self-determination.
President
Aquino called for the creation of the peace council to study the BBL and help
the public understand the proposed legislation that will pave way for the
establishment of Bangsamoro autonomous region vested with more fiscal powers
and stronger internal governance.
http://www.luwaran.com/index.php/welcome/item/917-bangsamoro-autonomy-is-alternative-to-independence-war-peace-council
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