A STATE within a state.
This is what the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) seeks to establish, an act that will run afoul of the 1987 Constitution, according to experts and analysts.
The Aquino administration, seeking to secure what it claims will be a legacy of peace and development in war-torn Mindanao, appears bent on having the BBL passed by Congress, after signing a peace agreement with Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels last year. The Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro, which was brokered by Malaysia, was signed after 17 years of negotiations between the Philippine government and MILF rebels.
The BBL will expand and replace the existing Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), with a plebiscite scheduled in September and elections for the Bangsamoro government synchronized with the 2016 elections.
The Bangsamoro region will have its own flag, billions in annual subsidies from the national government, powers to tax and operate free ports and economic zones, and jurisdiction over minerals and other natural resources. Critics are thus calling for major changes to the draft of BBL, which is pending at the committee level in the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Former senator Aquilino Pimentel, Jr. said the BBL’s “major constitutional flaw” was the proposed parliamentary form of government for the Bangsamoro region.
“In a parliamentary government, only legislative officials are elected by the people. The elected legislative officials in turn elect the executive officials,” he explained. “[They should] make the proposed government of the BBL conform to the presidential form of government, not parliamentary.”
Article 7, Section 4 of the BBL draft states that the Bangsamoro legislature or parliament will be composed of at least 60 members, with only 40 percent consisting of elected district representatives. Half of the parliament will consist of representatives of political parties. The remaining 10 percent will consist of non-Moro indigenous peoples, namely the Teduray, Lambangian, Dulangan Manobo, B’laan, and Higaonon.
History Department chairman Augusto De Viana echoed Pimentel, saying the government should not favor any particular ethnic group.
“You’re creating a government within a government, a state within a state, and that is unconstitutional,” he said.
MILF demobilization seen
The key feature of the proposed Bangsamoro government, according to government peace negotiators, is the “asymmetrical relationship” it will have with the national government. This means the Bangsamoro region will have a special status that will be unlike that of local governments. The lack of this special status supposedly led to the failure of the existing ARMM, which was established following the 1996 peace accord with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) of Nur Misuari.
The MILF is a breakaway faction of the MNLF. Opposition to the BBL has grown after a breakaway faction of the MILF, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), figured in the bloody encounter in Mamasapano, Maguindanao last January that killed 44 police commandos. The BIFF and others such as the Abu Sayyaf kidnap group are not included in peace negotiations.
Dennis Coronacion, political science professor at the Faculty of Arts and Letters, is in favor of the proposed BBL to allow greater self-rule for Muslim Mindanao. “It enhances the concept of regional autonomy in Mindanao, which is good for the Muslims in the south because it gives them more opportunity to determine their future and shape their lives,” he said.
The BBL should also create an environment of peace in Mindanao, he added, given the impending demobilization of MILF fighters after decades of rebellion.
Coronacion agreed that some BBL provisions needed to be sorted out. “Some [provisions] are lying near the thin line that separates what is constitutional and what is not,” he said. “[One provision] will allow the autonomous regional government to incorporate Islamic doctrines in their laws, but experts say this is against the constitutional principle of separation of church and state.”
Article 10 of the BBL states that the Bangsamoro Justice System “shall consist of a Shari’ah law and Shari’ah courts which shall have supremacy and application over Muslims only; the traditional or tribal justice system, for the indigenous peoples in the Bangsamoro; and the local courts; and alternative dispute resolution systems.”
Pimentel said imposing the Shari’ah law would be harsh. “Shari’ah, as practiced in Saudi Arabia, allows the cutting off of the hand of a thief. Or the stoning to death of a woman caught in adultery. We cannot allow such ‘cruel punishments’ to be imposed on criminals in any part of the country,” he said.
Also contentious is Article 5, Section 2, which seeks to form region-level duplicates of constitutional bodies such as the Commission on Audit, Commission on Elections, Civil Service Commission, Commission on Human Rights, and Office of the Ombudsman. The Bangsamoro will also have its own police force.
Critics fear that the Bangsamoro government will be unchecked, with its own audit body and police, who will be appointed by the Bangsamoro chief minister. Lawmakers are wary of allowing the Bangsamoro to have its own police force following the Mamasapano massacre.
De Viana said the problem with the Bangsamoro proposal was that it would be an “autonomous” area on paper, but would be a clan government in practice.
“The ARMM is the poorest region in the country despite the billions of dollars [given to it] as aid,” he pointed out.
Coronacion noted that the MILF was willing to cooperate despite Congress’ threat to water down the proposed BBL.
“The MILF leaders have said that they do not mind if the result is a diluted version of the proposed BBL, so long as their basic demands are addressed,” he said.
For De Viana, there is no other alternative to the proposed parliamentary government for the Bangsamoro, except to crush the rebellion. M. G. C. Esmaya and M. G. F. G. Ropero
