The Bangsamoro Organic Law and peacebuilding processes in the democratic space

Enacting the Bangsamoro organic law is a test of whether power is ultimately held by the people.

PEACEBUILDING in the country has reached another milestone — the enactment of an organic law that will formally create the Bangsamoro territory.

Of course, it would still need to hurdle expected legal challenges, including the actual plebiscite. More than eliciting euphoric jubilation, the exercise should have resulted in a sobering realization that peacebuilding is a process — it is difficult, but it can be done. The fact that the Organic Law for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (OL- BARMM) advances the current Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), which was also a peace effort in its own right, should serve as a footnote to this process.

There are things that still need to be clarified within the law. Let us not be tempted to think that since it is signed, everything will progress into what is expected. As in everything that went through a process, the OLBARMM is just another step, albeit a big step. In the first place, the entire negotiations — the amendments and counter-amendments to all provisions — signify the meeting of differing expectations.

Foremost, the OLBARMM is a result of years of effort from peacemakers on both sides of the warring parties. The government of the Philippines has extended its hand in peace, and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) reciprocated. For those not in the know, the long-standing armed conflict in Mindanao has been a struggle for the right to self-determination. The clear exclusion of Muslim Mindanao from the economic gains of the whole area for more than three decades now has legitimized this demand for self-determination. The organic law therefore is a political settlement and not an ordinary piece of legislation.

It is vital that Muslim Mindanao be politically drawn within the domain of the state and Muslim Filipinos feel that they are an important stakeholder of the Philippine nation, not a separate people.

In time, their sense of separateness will heal as perceptions are not permanent in nature, provided there is material condition for the change to grow and flourish.

The 1987 Constitution provided material condition under Section 18 of Article 10 which instructs Congress to enact an organic law for two autonomous regions, the other one being the Cordilleras. Article 10 itself is titled “Local Government” but sections 1 to 14 deals with local government creation which resulted in the enactment of the 1995 Local Government Code, while Sections 15 to 21 with a separate sub-title, deals with the autonomous regions. These were the basis for the enactment of R.A. 6734 on August 1, 1989 which created the ARMM and its later amended form, R.A. 9054 on February 7, 2001.

The ARMM had been based on an earlier peace agreement between the government and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) signed in 1996, but when the bill went to Congress, the MNLF had no participation in crafting it, believing that the peace deal was not fully respected. This time, the MILF was involved in crafting the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) through the 15-member Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC), with three members coming from the MNLF.

The first requirement for the Bangsamoro realization is its territory. Unfortunately, those who are uncomfortable if not outright against the creation of a meaningful autonomy for Muslim Mindanao invoked Section 10 to challenge the inclusion of the six municipalities and 39 barangays under the proposed BBL, basically the opt-in provision. Section 10, which deals with local government, prohibits the creation, merger, abolition and division of any province, municipality and barangay, except under plebiscite with affected political units voting.

On the other hand, section 18, which specifically deals with autonomous region, stipulates for “geographical areas” which can be accommodated to the autonomous region along with provinces and cities, provided the residents in these areas voted for inclusion.

The use of “geographical areas” clearly intends for a greater latitude of interpretation for the territory of the future autonomous region for Muslim Mindanao. The six municipalities in Lanao del Norte and the 39 barangays in North Cotabato can be categorized as geographic areas, hence eligible to join the Bangsamoro.

The lawmakers decided to use section 10 for their interpretation instead of section 18. Nothing can be said further about the earlier contention that if the BBL has an opt-in proviso, it should also have a corresponding “opt-out” proviso.

Another territory-related provision, the periodic plebiscite was aborted very early and did not reach the discussion proper even at the committee level in both Houses. The opt-in proviso and the periodic plebiscite were seen as “creeping ” provisions.

We see how peace accords are always political in nature; hence they should not be limited to a narrow legalistic view.

Aside from the territory, the pre-conditions on the release of the block grant have been a serious concern, because fiscal independence is the heart of autonomy. The automatic block grant appropriation is one of the most important improvement made to the OLBARMM. We recall that the conditional release of the annual budget had been ARMM’s main problem in the past.

In the signed final version of the law, the bicameral conference committee removed the preconditions for the release of the block grant.

However, the mechanism of control survived in section 21, on review of block grant formula, which will be conducted not annually but every five years. The Intergovernmental Fiscal Policy Board (IGFPB), with national government representatives, is empowered to, among others, review the fiscal needs of the Bangsamoro and the actual revenues it is able to generate to ensure “all block grant expenditures are transparent and performancebased”.

Even if the preconditions to the release of the block grant were removed, there is no telling that the national government through IGFPB will not exercise undue intrusion into the fiscal management of the Bangsamoro.

For instance, under the Local Government Code, 40 percent of BIR’s annual collection should be automatically released to local government units (LGUs). However, during a Senate Committee hearing on Constitutional Amendment early this year, the League of Municipalities of the Philippines testified that previous administrations “had withheld the IRAs (internal revenue allotments) and unduly punished LGUs” because of unmanageable fiscal deficits. A similar thing could happen to the block grant in the future.

Another important part of the financial aspect of the OLBARMM is the Special Development Fund (SDF). More than the amount the bicam decided, which is P50 billion for 10 years instead of the BTC proposal of P100 billion for 20 years, the significance of the funding is in its intent to support the rehabilitation and normalization process that will address not only the situation of the former combatants but also the internally displaced persons, widows and orphans, and poverty-stricken communities. The SDF is an indemnification fund — a catch-up fund that indemnifies because most of Mindanao has improved economically, except for the Bangsamoro area.

The adoption of the House version on land management and distribution including agricultural land use reclassification, which the Bangsamoro has the power to initiate and recommend, is also a positive development in the OLBARMM. This recognizes Bangsamoro’s capacity to govern itself and will allow them to use alternative land dispute resolutions which are proven effective.

In the end, modern governance is a matter of democratic rule where the people’s sovereignty is respected. Enacting the organic law for the Bangsamoro people and other similar laws is a test of whether power is ultimately held by the people through their legislators as their true representatives. If a law will constrict such expression and practice of democracy, then people have the right to create a more expansive law that would really reflect their hopes and aspirations, because laws should be tools of liberation and not of oppression.