Bicam won’t water down BBL — Muslim leader

MANILA, Philippines — Deliberations being conducted by senators and congressmen in the bicameral conference (bicam) committee on perceived conflicting provisions in the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) will definitely not produce a watered-down version of the measure, according to a top Muslim leader.

“We don’t consider this as a watered-down BBL. The fact is that the BBL now, as we see it, unless it is changed drastically, it is no longer ARMM-minus. It is ARMM-plus plus plus,” said Ghadzali Jaafar, head of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC).

Jaafar, who is also a ranking official of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that is among the groups seeking an independent region in Mindanao, said the passage of the BBL will mean the abolition of the five-province Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). 

Once signed into law by President Duterte, the BBL will abolish the ARMM and put in place the Bangsamoro juridical entity. This is in line with the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro signed by former president Benigno Aquino III and MILF leaders in 2014. 

This was the position taken by Jaafar even if the BTC was not able to attain its proposal for a single-majority vote inclusion of some 39 barangays in North Cotabato and six towns in Lanao del Norte in the Bangsamoro region under the landmark law.

The 39 barangays and six towns are currently part of ARMM.

The impasse between senators and congressmen, many of them representatives from Mindanao, forced the lawmakers to bring the issue before Duterte. 

The villages and towns would have to vote “yes” for their inclusion in the Bangsamoro region and then get the blessing of their mother local government units (North Cotabato and Lanao del Norte, respectively) in another majority vote to formalize the move.

Jaafar understood Duterte’s move, which was done for the sake of constitutionality. 

“We believe in the reason of our beloved President as to why it has to go through a double-majority,” he said, adding that they respect Duterte.

The House panel favored the double-majority vote inclusion, while its Senate counterpart and the BTC preferred the single vote method. 

Duterte overhauled the composition of the BTC at the start of his administration in 2016 and tasked it to submit a draft BBL. The measure failed to pass during the previous Aquino government due to questions on constitutionality.

In a related development, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri told reporters there will be no more bicameral meetings today and that they will most likely resume on July 18. 

The Senate bicam panel chairman sees no problem with the 13 sections that have been deliberated upon and are still pending, but that the most contentious issues are those in Articles 17 and 18, involving territory and plebiscite. 

He is hopeful though that the July 18 meeting will end with the signing of the peace pact.

Groups support BBL

The League of Bangsamoro Organizations lauded the bicam following the approval of provisions granting the Bangsamoro its fiscal autonomy.

Members of the Senate and the House of Representatives have been discussing the BBL since July 9 to reconcile their respective versions of the law.

Yesterday, the legislators agreed to the 75-25 wealth-sharing formula in favor of the Bangsamoro.

This increases the autonomous region’s share in government tax revenues by five percent.

Currently, the ARMM is getting 70 percent of collection of a province or city from national internal revenue taxes, fees and charges, as well as taxes imposed on natural resources.

Apart from this, panels from both chambers of Congress have agreed on the automatic allocation of the annual block grant for the Bangsamoro region.

This is equivalent to five percent of the net national internal revenue of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC).

Bobby Benito, speaking for more than 60 civil society organizations (CSOs) with roughly 40,000 individual members, said the network of organizations joyfully welcomes the decision.

Various civil society groups appealed on Wednesday to the bicam to strengthen the provisions of the proposed BBL in adherence to the aspirations of the Bangsamoro people.

In an interfaith rally held at the EDSA Shrine outside the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Mandaluyong City where members of the Senate and the House of Representatives are reconciling their respective versions of the law, the groups called for a BBL that is compliant with the peace agreements and one that will ensure peace and development in the region.  

Datu Al-Amer of 1taBangsa Peace and Peoples Organization said they support the BBL that would benefit Mindanao and the entire country.

According to BTC lawyer Algamar Latiph, a stronger BBL will be beneficial not only to the region but the nation itself.   With Jose Rodel Clapano, Jaime Laude