Plebiscite to form Bangsamoro substate set with 2016 polls

From the Daily Tribune (Feb 9): Plebiscite to form Bangsamoro substate set with 2016 polls

The plebiscite for the transformation of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao into a Bangsamoro territory has been prepared by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for the coming May 2016 national elections.

“The plebiscite will happen before 2016. The Bangsamoro Transition Commission will submit the Bangsamoro Basic Law to the OP, to the Office of the President,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said.

Lacierda explained that the Bangsamoro bill would be certified by President Aquino as urgent so that his political allies would consider its immediate passage in the committee and plenary debates.

Lacierda said the draft proposed bill would have to be reviewed first by President Aquino’s advisers before it would be filed in Congress for “scrutiny.”

“We will submit the bill to Congress and certify it as urgent,” Lacierda said.

Lacierda quoted Senate President Franklin Drilon as saying “they hope to finish the bill before the year-end.”

“And then after that, there will be plebiscite after the bill becomes law. And after that, there will be a Bangsamoro Transition authority which by the time, hopefully, by 2015, it will be in existence,” Lacierda said.

Lacierda said there will be a one-year period of experience in governing the Bangsamoro first local elections, “then we’ll synchronize it with the 2016 national election”.

“So by the time 2016 enters, we have Bangsamoro Juridical Entity,” Lacierda said.

Cotabato Rep. Jesus Sacdalan whose province petitioned and got the Supreme Court to stop the August 5, 2008 signing of the already initialed Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) of the national government (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), is now actively campaigning among his colleagues in Congress to pass the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) that would govern the future Bangsamoro.

The future Bangsamoro will be the new autonomous political entity that would replace the 24-year old Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and would have a ministerial form of government.

Sacdalan was one of the six members of Congress sent by House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to assure the GPH and MILF peace panels of their support to the peace process.

House Deputy Speaker for Mindanao Pangalian Balindong of Lanao del Sur said he was confident they have the numbers in the House to pass the Bangsamoro Basic Law because “this is our last chance for peace.”

But questions have been hounding the peace process if indeed the Aquino administration could muster the required number of votes given that the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel has been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court on Nov. 19, 2013.

The pork barrel has been used by several administrations to push for their pet bills.Balindong said the pork barrel should not be a consideration in voting for peace. The House of Representatives has 289 members. A simple majority of 145 votes is required to pass the Bangsamoro Basic Law.

Congress could pass the law but the question remains if it will carry the provisions of the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law that the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) drafted.

The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), which signed a Final Peace Agreement with the Philippine government in 1996, complained that Republic Act 9054 which amended RA 6734, the Organic Act creating the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), did not reflect the provisions agreed upon in the 1996 peace pact.

MNLF chair Nur Misuari repeatedly said RA 9054 rendered the ARMM less autonomous than it was.

The panels signed the last of the four Annexes—the Annex on Normalization, the Addendum to the wealth and power-sharing annexes on the Bangsamoro waters, paving the way for the completion of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB).

Under the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) signed on Oct. 15, 2012, the panels agreed that the status quo is unacceptable and that they would work for the creation of the Bangsamoro which would have a ministerial form of government.

In his State of the Nation Address on July 22, 2013, Aquino urged Congress to pass the BBL before the end of 2014.

“I urge you to pass the Bangsamoro Basic Law before the end of 2014. This way, we will have ample time to prepare for the election of a new Bangsamoro government come 2016,” Aquino said.

Meanwhile, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Mar Roxas yesterday called on the governors, mayors and other elected officials of Mindanao to extend their all-out support to the Framework Agreement for Bangsamoro.

The agreement was forged recently by the national government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

According to Roxas, the local officials are in the best position to explain to their constituents the advantages of creating a new Bangsamoro Region as a necessary step in securing just and lasting peace in Mindanao.

Roxas said during the opening ceremony of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) office in Cotabato City that the framework Agreement is a crucial and necessary first step towards lasting peace and development in Mindanao.

Roxas joined Sec. Teresita Deles, the Presidential Adviser for Peace Process, in the opening ceremony also attended by the 15 members of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission.

The 15 members of the Commission, of which seven were nominated by the government, and eight recommended by the MILF, include Akmad A. Sakkam, Johaira C. Wahab, Talib A. Benito, Asani S. Tammang, Pedrito A. Eisma, Froilyn T. Mendoza and Fatmawati T. Salapuddin Robert M. Alonto, Abdulla U. Camlian, Ibrahim D. Ali, Raissa H. Jajurie, Melanio U. Ulama, Hussein P. Munoz and Said M. Shiek.

Mohagher Iqbal, current chair of the MILF peace panel will serve as chairperson of the commission.

The Transition Commission is tasked to draft the Bangsamoro Basic Law that will be certified urgent by the President and submitted to Congress for passage.

http://www.tribune.net.ph/headlines/plebiscite-to-form-bangsamoro-substate-set-with-2016-polls