Sen. Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara said the 2019 General Appropriations Act recently signed by President Rodrigo Duterte includes a P30bn allocation for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), which replaced the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). The amount was initially allocated for the ARMM, but would be transferred to the BARMM to serve as its operational funds for this year.
“This is in fulfillment of the promise to give the Bangsamoro government full fiscal autonomy to achieve economic self-sufficiency and genuine development,” according to Angara, who, as chairman of the Senate Committee on Local Government, co-sponsored Republic Act 11054 or the “Bangsamoro Organic Law” (BOL) creating the BARMM.
“With this spending package, we pin our hopes on the leaders of the new autonomous political entity to change the lives of our Mindanaoan brothers and sisters who equally deserve opportunities to be employed, educated and cared for by the government,” the senator said.
The BOL, a realisation of long peace negotiations between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), was overwhelmingly ratified by the Bangsamoro people during a two-part plebiscite held early this year.
In February, President Duterte formed the 80-member Bangsamoro Transition Authority to serve as the interim government in the BARMM during the transition period that will last until the first elections take place in 2022.
The BOL, Angara said, was “a lasting and valuable legal solution to the long-festering problem in Mindanao, so that ultimately peace and prosperity can flourish.”
In 2015, population in the region stood at 3.78mn, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.
One in two persons in the region was poor, or about 53.7% of its population, the government statistics office said.
“The solution should ultimately rest on giving the Bangsamoro people to make their own choices, the political and fiscal autonomy to no longer consult with imperial Manila or the central government on matters that are essentially Bangsamoro matters,” Angara said.
Under the BOL, revenue sources for the Bangsamoro include taxes, fees, charges and annual block grant and revenue shares from exploration of natural resources, among others.
The law provides that 75% of national taxes and fees collected in the region will go the Bangsamoro government, while 25% will go to the national government.
The 75% share shall “accrue” to the Bangsamoro government for the first 10 years.
The BARMM government will be given a 5% annual block grant from the national government, which will be automatically appropriated in the national budget.
In the first year following the effectivity of the Bangsamoro law, the block grant should be 5% of the net national internal revenue tax collection and the net collection of the Bureau of Customs in the last three fiscal years.
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