400 tribal leaders meet next week on BBL
DAVAO CITY – Around 400 tribal leaders from all over Mindanao will convene in a three-day legislative assembly in Davao City next week to discuss the issues concerning the Lumads within the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and come up with legislative proposals that they hope Congress will incorporate in the new Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).
The Mindanao Indigenous People’s Legislative Assembly (MIPLA) will take place at the Mergrande Ocean Resort, Talomo District here on August 30 to September 1, 2017.
During Wednesday’s “Habi at Kape,” Mindanao IPs Conference for Peace and Development (MIPCPD) chairman Datu Lipatuan Joel A. Unad said they will discuss with the tribal leaders point-by-point some contentious provisions of the new BBL concerning the lumads’ “four bundle of rights” that consist of the right to govern their ancestral land, right to governance, right to economic development, and right to integrity and justice system.
Under the new BBL, he said they want the rights of the lumads within the Bangsamoro to be protected and recognized in accordance with their customary laws and cultural practices.
The passage of the new BBL, which is an enabling law to implement the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro (CAB), will pave the way for a new Bangsamoro government that will replace the ARMM.
“Kinahanglan tagaan og pagtagad (Congress) nga dili lang more on statement pero through policy pinaagi sa ilang action pud (It is necessary that Congress must heed our call, not only through mere statement but also through actual policy and actions),” he said.
The objectives of the event include non-Moro IP-related issues and concerns relative to the proposed BBL; suggest possible “enhancements” to the draft law, specifically those that will impact on the rights/ welfare of Mindanao’s non Moro-IPs; enable members of the Tribal Legislative Assembly to interface with representatives of the BTC; and submit legislative proposals that will mirror the views, dreams, and aspirations of Mindanao’s non-Moro IPs, and be reflected in the proposed BBL.
Unad appealed to the government to get inputs from the lumads when drafting the new constitution that will pave the way for a shift to a new federal form of government from a unitary type.
Under the 1987 Philippine Constitution, there are three modes of which it could be amended - people’s initiative, constituent assembly, and constitutional convention.
He said the lumads support the effort of the Duterte administration to shift to a new form of government but they want to be enlightened on where they will be positioned in the new federal set-up.
The lumads are afraid that a shift to a federal form of government will affect the delineation of their ancestral domain and lamented that even with the 1987 Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA), their territories have yet to be recognized as their ancestral lands.