I have read the draft of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), or House Bill No. 4994 in the House of Representatives and Senate Bill No. 2408 in the Senate. The bills were filed in both chambers of Congress in September last year after the draft was submitted by Malacañang.
The bill filed in the House was authored by pro-administration lawmakers. Among the Cebuano members of Congress, only TUCP party-list Rep. Raymond Democrito Mendoza signed as author. I don’t know if any of the Cebuano solons belatedly inserted their names as the bill’s sponsors. The Senate version didn’t have Sen. Sergio Osmeña III’s signature.
The bill was introduced in September or around four months before the Mamasapano, Maguindanao clash that killed 44 elements of the Special Action Force, 18 Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) fighters and five civilians.
The emotional reaction to the deaths was pounced upon by the formerly moribund movement calling for the resignation of President Noynoy Aquino. It also led to some lawmakers withdrawing their support for the measure and demonizing the MILF in an obvious attempt to scuttle efforts to pass the BBL and jeopardize the peace talks between the Philippine government and the Moro rebel group.
I do not pretend to be an expert in the law so I will have to rely on the opinion of the members of Congress as to the constitutionality of some of the provisions of the BBL or the entire BBL itself. My actual impression while reading the BBL draft was that it can be used as model by those pushing for a federal government setup.
The passage of the BBL would demolish the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). The change of the name of the new Moro entity already gives away the BBL’s intention, which is to expand the territories currently encompassed by the ARMM and make the entity more autonomous. The entity will be known as Bangsamoro, which actually sounds like a state within the Philippine state.
In this sense, I was more interested on how much authority the “central government” is ceding to the Bangsamoro, especially in the maintenance of peace and order. I don’t see a problem with the creation of a Bangsamoro police force because it will still be under the Philippine National Police (PNP). National defense and security will still be provided mainly by the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
In sum, I expected government giving in to some of the demands of the MILF, after all that is what a peace negotiation is about. You win some, you lose some. I don’t think, however, that the draft BBL would be passed without revisions. That’s why it is a draft because it is not perfect. Its main test, of course, is constitutionality.
And here’s one point that the people should remember: the BBL is not about the MILF. It is wrong to assume that the BBL’s provisions are intended to benefit a particular group. The BBL is for the Bangsamoro people, or those who want to be part of a Bangsamoro entity. In a way, it is a gift of the Philippine state to the Moro people.
Mohagher Iqbal, the head of the MILF panel to the peace talks, mentioned this during the Senate hearing on the Mamasapano clash. Once the Bangsamoro entity is established, the MILF will transform itself into a political party. In a way, it will have the inside track in the elections that will follow, but other Muslim groups can form their own political parties to steal the initiative from the MILF.
When asked what MILF will do if it loses in the elections, Iqbal said, “e, di talo.” But that does not mean MILF would be able to take up arms again because by then its armed force will already be disbanded. - Bong O. Wenceslao / SunStar
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