Cha-cha before BBL a safer course, says Puno

The proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) has greater chances of being enacted if the Constitution is amended and a federal type of government is adopted, former chief justice Reynato Puno said yesterday.

According to Puno, the identity-based demands of Muslims could only be granted if the government is transformed from unitary to federal.

“I’m saying that it will be very difficult for this bill to overcome a constitutional challenge before the Supreme Court because precisely, we have a unitary government that is not empowered to grant these identity-based demands of our Muslim brothers,” Puno said in a press briefing in Malacañang.

Asked if Charter change should come first before the BBL, Puno replied: “That is the safer course.”

The BBL seeks to create a Bangsamoro political entity in Mindanao with greater economic and political powers. The measure, one of the priority bills of the Duterte administration, aims to implement the peace deal signed by the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in 2014.

Puno said dealing with the Muslims’ demands to have their own homeland that they can govern according to their culture, religion, language and history is the “most urgent reason” the Philippines should adopt federalism.

“This aspiration of our Muslim brothers cannot be substantially granted unless we change our unitary government,” Puno said.

“This frustration of our Muslim brothers to establish a state of their own has threatened to wreck our republic. Their cry for separation and independence has resulted in open rebellion and worse, they are now assisted by some foreign elements,” he added, referring to the foreign terrorists that helped the Maute group attack Marawi City.

Puno said the term “political dynasty” should also be defined by the amended Charter to prevent political families from monopolizing power even in a federal form of government.

He noted that the 1987 Constitution did not define the term and left it to Congress to come up with its definition.

“It was 1987 then, it’s now 2017 and yet there is no definition. So the ’87 Constitution on political dynasty is not self-executive. So the solution is make it self-executive,” Puno said.

“To me that is a sine qua non (necessary) condition because you will be giving sovereign powers to the states. And the states should not be run by a monopoly, whether it’s a political monopoly or an economic monopoly,” he added.

Puno said a strong judiciary is likewise needed in a federal government, noting that unconstitutional laws are enforced because of the late decisions of the courts.

“When a case, however, is filed only after the passage of a long time, you can imagine the damage already done by the unconstitutional law or the unconstitutional act. Damage which can no longer be undone by a late decision of the Supreme Court,” he said.

Puno said the Philippines might want to consider the German model, wherein the court’s power to review is triggered even without the filing of cases.

“In the case of Germany, that is triggered in extraordinary circumstances. But by a certain number of members of the parliament by the federal government or by the states themselves,” he said.

“The requirement of a proper case means that there must first be a violation of a right. Then there must be a case filed before the Supreme Court. And the case must be filed by the proper party. If there is no complaint, if there is no case, the Supreme Court cannot act,” he added.

Previous reports said Puno is being considered to become a member of the consultative committee to review the 1987 Constitution. But the former chief justice said he has not received any offer.