The long-term economic plan of the BBL — where is it?

Before Congress goes sine-die this May, the Bangsa Moro Basic Law (BBL) would have been passed by the lower house on third and last reading; without a hitch it is likely to get the nod of the Senate as well. Now, a cursory look at how different the political structure under the BBL and what it was with the ARMM one seems lost in the verbose ramifications of where the funds would be coming from to fund the BBL behemoth, from its transition from the ARMM up to the time they are able to get themselves organized and start legislating their budgetary requirements.

From all indications the 4 or 5 million citizens comprising the BBL will continue to get central government subsidy for at least 2019, or longer, to the tune of P30 billion a year from everyone’s pocket. ARMM had a little less annual budget than that. But just the same this observer sees little change from the ARMM, due the absence of a visionary economic development plan, except the imperative of government to buck the political pressure from the MILF group who now wants to get this autonomy concession from government via the BBL, or else…

My take: why can’t the government quit sailing asea on the hope that a political structure like BBL, never mind the illusory financial bonanza that could come to the region under an autonomous structure, without going through the same traumatic experience with ARMM, which the P-Noy administration and the present one, labeled a “failed experiment.” The BBL could likely result as another regional structure propped by everyone’s taxes, not much different from the ARMM, without a clear economic plan.

I have not seen or heard a hint on any government long-term economic development plan paralleled with the reconfiguration of the political structure - that is the BBL. Without this economic blueprint from the central government, is it now left to the leadership in the region to craft and chart their future, and we all hope for the best? Autonomy sounds beautiful on paper and music to the ears of the incorrigible parliamentary dreamers among us. But I think it can be a very costly experiment the way the BBL is envisioned without an overall economic rudder from the central government think tank, like the NEDA, to provide long-term vision to where it should grow and how to develop optimally the vast resources of the region; after all, the whole country are also stakeholders and owners of the nation’s immense natural resources in Mindanao.

It would be a pity to miss another chance for Mindanao with all its vast natural resources. It is as big as Singapore in population, except that 70-80% of Singapore’s resources are just the ingenuity and financial talent of its people to enjoy one of the highest per capita incomes in the world and be the financial capital of most of Asia and Europe. – MARVEL K. TAN, a Tausog, Quezon City