‘Bangsamoro bill has constitutional flaws’

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Constitutional Association (Philconsa) claimed that the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law is constitutionally problematic.

In a recently released 75-page position paper on House Bill 4994 or the Bangsamoro Basic Law, Philconsa said the BBL is flawed and cluttered with unconstitutional experimental features to replace the failed Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

The group said it is awed by the inability of the measure to keep the faith in the framework of the Constitution. 

Among the issues raised by Philconsa are the right to self-determination, the Bangsamoro’s apparent asymmetrical relationship with the national government, form of government, territorial domain, foreign affairs, internal and external security and sources of government funds.

“To establish an asymmetrical political relationship of Bangsamoro with the central government founded on the principles of ‘subsidiarity’ and ‘parity of system’ is an oxymoron,” Philconsa said in the position paper recently submitted to the Senate committee on local governments chaired by Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

On the issue of giving the Bangsamoro people their right to self-determination, Philconsa seeks to clarify whether the provision will pave the way for the Bangsamoro entity to be equal or have more powers than the government.

The group cited the North Cotabato case, where the Supreme Court ruled that, “the people’s right to self-determination should not, however, be understood as extending to a unilateral right of secession.”

A distinction should be made between the right of internal and external self-determination. A right to self-determination, in this case, takes the form of the assertion of a right to unilateral secession, the SC said.

The SC ultimately held that the population has no right to secession, since it is not under colonial rule or foreign domination, nor is it deprived of the freedom to make political choices and pursue economic, social and cultural developments, according to Philconsa.

Several constitutional experts, including members of the 1987 Constitutional Commission, have been invited to a public hearing today on the BBL to be presided by Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago of the Senate committee on constitutional amendments, revision of codes and laws.

Santiago will convene the committee from 10 a.m. to noon, jointly with the committees on local government and on peace, unification and reconciliation, to tackle HB 4994, also known as the act providing for the basic law for the Bangsamoro and abolishing the ARMM.

“Philconsa has no reservations on the concept of Bangsamoro as a political subdivision or entity. However, HB 4994 should be formulated and structured ‘within the framework of the Constitution and the national sovereignty as well as the territorial integrity of the Republic of the Philippines,’” the group said.

It also described the BBL as a product of “overcooked politics” with a national and international aftermath, “spiced with unreasoned objectives” leading to “a dysfunctional and unsustainable political system.”

“HB 4994 was fashioned as the magical legal instrument, which ironically overlooks or bypasses the constitutional and legal requisites to establish a new and singular political entity not provided in the Constitution,” Philconsa said.

The group said the preamble of BBL confuses the Bangsamoro as either a subsidiary or equal to the central government.

House seeks changes to BBL

Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, chairman of the 75-member House ad hoc committee on the BBL, admitted that the panel saw some provisions “of doubtful constitutionality” but they will be removed in the committee report, including the creation of new offices in the envisioned autonomous region whose functions should remain with the national government.

He said the provisions expected to be scrapped include those creating a separate Commission on Audit (COA), Civil Service Commission (CSC), and Commission on Elections (Comelec) for the proposed autonomous region.

He said the COA, CSC, and Comelec “should continue to have power and jurisdiction” over the envisioned Bangsamoro autonomous region.

Rodriguez said the ad hoc committee would also delete the provision that removes jurisdiction of the Office of the Ombudsman over officials of the autonomous region.

The provision that allows 10 percent of the population of contiguous areas to seek inclusion in the autonomous region will likely be scrapped as the section may cause instability, he said.

He however said some contested provisions on security, particularly on the relationship between the Armed Forces and the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the proposed autonomous government will be retained.

“We see no constitutional issues because there is only one Armed Forces, one PNP, and the President remains the commander-in-chief,” Rodriguez said in a previous interview.

He said the proposed autonomous government will have its own police force for its internal security but it will still be under the PNP.

Rodriguez said the BBL, as it is hammered out by the panel, grants full political autonomy to the proposed autonomous region. He, however, said the panel is still discussing the constitutional implications of the provision that has the proposed autonomous government in a parliamentary form.

“The new autonomous region will have 14 concurrent powers and 58 exclusive powers, including those of health, social services, social welfare, infrastructure, these are already devolved anyway and they know better,” Rodriguez said.

Among the resource persons invited to the Senate public hearing are: Secretary Teresita Quintos-Deles, presidential adviser on the peace process; professor Miriam Colonel-Ferrer, government peace panel chairperson; Mohaguer Iqbal, Bangsamoro Transition Commission chairman; Senen Bacani, government peace panel member; and Undersecretary Jose Luis Martin Gascon, government monitoring committee chairman. 

The constitutional experts who would attend include Justice Florentino P. Feliciano; and 1986 Constitutional Commission members former Justice Adolfo S. Azcuna, Justice Vicente Mendoza; Christian Monsod and Wilfrido Villacorta.

Santiago also called to the hearing Dean Merlin Magallona of the University of the Philippines, Dean Julkipli Wadi of the University of the Philippines’ Institute of Islamic Studies, former senators Rene Saguisag and Aquilino Pimentel Jr.

Closed-door

The House ad hoc committee on the BBL will hold closed-door sessions starting today to begin writing the committee report, or the amended version of the law, which will be deliberated in plenary for approval.

Rodriguez said the panel would hold at least six executive sessions to write the draft BBL.

The committee has conducted 34 public hearings, mostly in Mindanao, since Malacañang submitted the BBL to the House last year.

“We will go over the BBL section by section — from the preamble to the last section,” Rodriguez said.

He also assured the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines — the latest group that expressed misgivings over the constitutionality and impact of the BBL — that the proposed law will not dismember the country.

Last week, various groups from Mindanao, including representatives from the Moro National Liberation Front, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, as well as constitutional experts were invited to the final hearings of the committee.

He said the panel aims to finalize the report by February and present it to the plenary for deliberations, and approve it in plenary by early March so President Aquino could sign the measure before April. – With Paolo Romero