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Bangsamoro, a good test case for Federalism – Sotto

 By Vanne Elaine Terrazola and Hannah Torregoza

Senate President Vicente Sotto III believes the new Bangsamoro region will be a “good” test case for a proposed shift to a federal form of government and see if federalism would work.

“Perhaps, magandang experiment itong Bangsamoro Organic Act. Ditomakikitanatin, kaya hindi natin kailangan apurahin yung federalism. Makikita natin sa Bangsamoro kung maganda [ang federalism] dahil federal type naito, eh (Perhaps, the Bangsamoro Organic Act is a good experiment. That’s why we should not rush federalism. We will see if federalism is effective since the Bangsamoro region is already a federal type),” Sotto said in press briefing Thursday.

After almost two weeks of debates, the Congress bicameral committee approved the reconciled version of the bill that is seen to address conflicts and violent extremism in Mindanao.

From the original Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), the bill was amended to the proposed “Bangsamoro Organic Law” to adhere to the 1987 Constitution.

He said the proposed Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (BAR) should be given two years to determine how the Bangsamoro government works and how the region’s budget was spent.

“More or less, we’ll have a good idea already of how a federal region is doing, and how work is being conducted,” he said.

“Magandang makita natin ang epekto nito at mangyayari dito (It would be wise to see first what will happen to the Bangsamoro region),” he noted.

If the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) fails to address hostilities in the region, it can be repealed, Sotto added.

Go slow on Federalism

Senators are confidentthe BOL would be able to stand the Supreme Court’s scrutiny.

“We are confident that the provisions of the BBLis compliant with the Constitution,”Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara said

“Ito ang natatanging hakbang para sa wakas ay magkaroon nang katuparan ang layunin nating maresolba ang mga ‘di pagkakaunawaan nang sa gayon ay umusad ang kapayapaan at kaunlaran sa Bangsamoro region (This is the only way to finally achieve our aspiration to resolve the conflict so we can finally achieve peace and development in the Bangsamoro region),” Angara said.

While the BOL is not a perfect document, Senator Francis Escudero said he is satisfied with the consolidated version.

“It’s not a perfect document and achieving and fighting for peace is a continuing process,” Escudero said.

But he urged the Duterte administration to go slow on its plan to shift to a federal form of government following the tedious process in crafting the BOL.

“If, over 30 years after ARMM was provided for in the 1987 Constitution – which is our closest experiment with federalism, we are still ‘improving and perfecting’ it, what more a rushed shift to federalism of our entire country? Not to mention how Federalism will impact on the new BBL?” Escudero pointed out.

“After over 30 years, ARMM remains to be the poorest region in the country, despite our experiment with ‘federalism’ in that region. For me, that is enough basis to go slow on federalism in the entire country,” he added.

Escudero said the government’s proposed federalism and the BOL will surely affect the block grant and other monetary grants amounting to about P100 billion a year.

Anti-dynasty provision

But Senate minority leader Franklin Drilon is not confident that the BOL would be as effective as others expect it to be due to the lack of an anti-dynasty provision.

“I am not optimistic that the BBL will result in good governance due to the rejection of my amendment to include an anti-dynasty provision similar to that found in the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) Reform Law,” Drilon said.

Drilon said he pushed for the inclusion of an anti-political dynasty provision after an Ateneo de Manila University study showed that five of the country’s poorest provinces are in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) where political clans are rampant.

But lawmakers questioned why political clans would only apply to the ARMM provinces and not in other regions.

“So instead of blocking the passage of the BBL, I said, okay, even if without an anti-dynasty provision in place. I’m still thinking this might still bring about peace in the region,” said the senator in a radio interview.

The proposed BOL once enacted, will create the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) replacing the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

The proposed Bangsamoro region shall have a parliamentary system of government with 80 members. A Chief Minister shall be voted to lead the Bangsamororegion, and two Deputy Chief Ministers from the mainland and island provinces, respectively.

Bangsamoro Transition Commission chair and Moro Islamic Liberation Front chair GhazaliJaafar said they are satisfied with how BOL turned out.

“It may not be a perfect law, but it is good to start with,” Jaafar said as he thanked the bicameral committee.

Zubiri said that the enactment of the BOL will lead to economical development of Mindanao and the country.

“When guns go silent in the island of Mindanao, that would lead to the advantage of every Filipino,” he said.

The region shall have an automatic allocation of the annual block grant, which would be five percent of the internal revenue and customs taxes collected by the national government, or about P60 billion.

Aside from the block grant, further assistance would likewise be provided to the Bangsamoro region such as the special development fund and taxes collected by the Bangsamoro like capital gains tax, donor’s tax, estate tax, and documentary stamp tax.

A 75-25 percent wealth-sharing term in favor of the Bangsamoro was adopted and taxing powers already granted to the ARMM were retained.

BANGSAMORO AUTONOMOUS REGION IN MUSLIM MINDANAO: Proposed law calls it BARMM

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‘Good to start’

That overused term preferred by diplomats is appropriate here: The congressional bicameral conference committee version of the Bangsamoro Basic Law, hammered into shape at the end of six contentious days (and four years after the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro was signed), must be met with cautious optimism.

It was good to see the current chair of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission Ghazali Jaafar, first vice chair of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, and the former BTC chair Mohagher Iqbal, head of the MILF’s peace implementing panel, present at the bicam deliberations from beginning until symbolic end. Their words of support for the final version are important.

Jaafar, for instance, told Mindanews that the change in name of the autonomous territory from Bangsamoro to the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (or BARMM) did not pose a problem. The change was “very slight,” he said. Besides, the word autonomy is still there in the new name (“andyan ang autonomy,” he said).

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He also quoted the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping’s saying about cats, that it didn’t matter if they were black or white, as long as they caught mice. “I believe in that,” he said. Later, after all the issues were resolved and the bicameral committee reached agreement, he told lawmakers: “We are satisfied. It is not a perfect law, but it is good to start with. It is very important to us.”

But even more important than his words, or those of Iqbal, was the photo taken of House Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas and Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri presenting both Jaafar and Iqbal with a copy of the proposed new law; the image created is truly consequential.

It is also necessary, because while the reconciled draft represents a significant advance on the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, key elements of the version prepared by the BTC were not carried into the final draft.

In the first place, the draft law no longer refers to itself as the Bangsamoro Basic Law, with its implications of a founding, even a constitutional, measure. Instead, it will be called the Organic Law for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (and will likely be referred to in news reports as the Bangsamoro Organic Law). The catchphrases “asymmetrical political relationship” (a conceptual breakthrough that helped the government and the MILF reach a peace agreement) and “parity of esteem” are no longer in the draft. Even more to the point, the very phrase asserting the “right to self-determination,” present in the House version but not in the Senate bill, is nowhere to be found.

But the proposed Bangsamoro Organic Law does build on the framework and experience of the ARMM. As Jaafar said two days before the bicam committee reached agreement, “it’s not below the ARMM.”

That is true. In terms of its political system, the Bangsamoro is a definite improvement over the ARMM: It will have its own government, headed by a chief minister and a ceremonial leader called a Wali. It will have an 80-seat parliament, with eight seats reserved for sectoral representatives.

In economic terms, the region will enjoy a higher wealth-sharing ratio: 75 percent of the internal revenue collected will go to the new government, instead of 70 percent. And an annual block grant, equivalent to 5 percent of national internal revenue collection, will be automatically appropriated to the new region. (In cash terms, this is more than double what the entire national judiciary receives as automatic appropriation).

And the Bangsamoro will have its own justice system based on Sharia law, open to traditional or tribal laws when disputes involve indigenous peoples within the region, but all compatible with the Philippine Constitution.

It will not have its own armed forces or police force, however. It will have to seek recourse to a new referendum to confirm that six towns in Lanao del Norte and 39 barangays of North Cotabato can join the new autonomous region. And it will have to deal with the fraught absence of the potent principle of self-determination.

There is reason for optimism then, but the response on the ground and the country’s own history will determine whether Filipinos in the Bangsamoro, and in the rest of the country, are right to welcome the good news with abundant caution.

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