Wednesday, July 29, 2015

MILF: Editorial - Critical period

Editorial posted to the MILF Website (Jul 28): Editorial - Critical period

Beyond October this year, it is most unlikely that the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) passes Congress.

The momentum will then be seriously punctuated, if not aborted. The focus of government including Congress will be to other else. Those running for positions in 2016 will be busy finding ways to win, including forging of alliances and sourcing of funds. Thus, the period from July 27 to October is deemed critical to pass the BBL.

We have not wavered in believing that President Benigno Aquino III will come true and clean in his commitment to deliver the BBL --- a good one. By placing the BBL as number in his list of priority legislations during his sixth and last “State of the Nation Address” (SONA) is a testimony of this commitment. We don’t think it is just for billing or just for show. But racing against time and in view of the strong opposition to the BBL by his political enemies and those who hate Moros to be like anybody else, any chance of success would require extraordinary efforts and pushing. The President should work closely with his allies in both Houses of Congress to make sure that the BBL would not be sidelined.

But passing the BBL is one thing; its substance is another thing. Certainly, the MILF will not accept a diluted BBL. If a law is based on the report of the Ad Hoc Committee on the BBL, which is 50 percent bad, the MILF will outright reject it.  This is not to say, however, that we do not recognize the efforts of the lawmakers especially Speaker Sonny Belmonte to make the report 90 percent quantitatively good and 50 percent good. We saluted them for their extra-efforts in championing the BBL in the Lower House. Moreover, it is just the first step in the ladder of legislation. There is still the plenary level and ultimately the bicameral conference between the Senate and the House. We can still hope and work for an acceptable BBL.

Many quarters are beseeching the MILF to compromise. We do not know where to compromise. The BBL has passed through various levels of review and decision-making. Changes have already taken place during this process: first by the Office of the President (OP), then back to the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC), then to the GPH-MILF peace panels and then back to the OP and finally by the President and Chairman Murad during their meeting in early September 2014.

 Of course, we are not saying Congress is going to be deprived of its plenary power over legislation. We never had such a notion or intention. But the BBL is not an ordinary legislation; it is crafted on the basis of the letter and spirit of the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) and the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB). Minding this not, the law that will be passed is not the law intended to translate political documents (FAB and CAB) into a legal document which is the “agreed version” of the BBL presented to Congress during the ceremony in MalacaƱang Palace on September 10 last year. More seriously, it will not lead to solving the Bangsamoro Problem or Question which the two parties have agreed to address during their 18 years of hard and long negotiations.

Some of the serious revisions or deletions in the Ad Hoc Committee report are the following:

1.      Allocation of income derived from the exploration, development and utilization of natural resources in the Bangsamoro must be 100% for non-metallic; 75-25 in favor of the Bangsamoro for metallic; and 50-50 for Bangsamoro and the Central Government for fossil fuels such as gas, oil, coal, and uranium was totally abandoned. To classify them as simply strategic minerals, which include all potential sources of energy such as wind, water, and sun, is not only to maintain the status quo but an outright deprivation of what remains of the wealth in our lands which have been raped by outsiders;

2.      The original provisions on the Shariah and other justice systems in the Bangsamoro should be retained;

3.      Retention of the original provisions on the Bangsamoro Police. Any reduction of those provisions provided in the BBL would be to render the Bangsamoro Police not only inutile but also reducing it to a category lower than what is currently in place in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). The nature and makeup of the Bangsamoro Police whether it can effectively secure the limbs and properties of the people has direct relevance to the decommissioning of MILF weapons and combatants, especially in the Third Phase of the Normalization Process which is 35 percent of the number of weapons submitted by the MILF to the Turkey-led Independent Decommissioning Body (IDB); and

4.      Allowing other national laws such as the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) and labor laws, etc., except those reserved to the Central Government to apply and operate in the Bangsamoro is simply destroying the essence of autonomy. Not only that they will create problems instead of promoting harmony, homogeneity, and coherence;

Some people also ignored the importance of basic principles in favor of what is practical and convenient. One reason is their utter disregard or lack of understanding of the context of the various provisions in the BBL. Principles are fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behavior especially in governance and relations of peoples. For instance, the Ad Hoc Committee deleted some basic principles or concepts and introduced other phrases that make the BBL incongruous.

1.      The parity of esteem is very a important principle in relation to people-to-people relationship or how to live together. It is acceptance by both sides of each other peculiarity. It should be restored, alongside the principle of mutual respect.

2.      The inclusion or repeated use of the phrase “within the framework of the Constitution and national sovereignty as well as the territorial integrity of the Republic of the Philippines” goes against the spirit of the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) and Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) and disregards the agreement with the Panel and the Office of the President (OP) Team. Its continuous assertion and explicit inclusion in the BBL reinforces the centrist unitary set-up of the Philippines; and

3.      The asymmetric relationship redefined, the wali as titular head of the Bangsamoro Government deleted, provision for solicitor general for Bangsamoro added, and deletion of entrenchment provision, among others, have effectively reduced the Bangsamoro entity into a local government unit. Worse, many of the amendments have reduced the powers of the ARMM, which the MILF rejected three times. In short, there is no autonomy at all but an entity lower than the ARMM.

For what reason, the MILF can accept a diluted BBL?

http://www.luwaran.com/index.php/editorial/item/503-critical-period

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