NEW BANGSAMORO LAW OPENS GOV’T POSTS TO FORMER FIGHTERS
COTABATO CITY—A new law enacted by the interim Bangsamoro Parliament provides a special opportunity for former Moro guerrillas to transition into civil service in an overhauled regional bureaucracy.
According to parliament member Anna Tarhata Basman, a provision in the Bangsamoro Civil Service Code (BCSC) allows the temporary appointment of qualified former combatants into first-level positions in the regional government even if they lack civil service eligibility.
Such an appointment shall be valid for 12 months and can be renewed up to three times, which sums to four years in all.
Within that period, Basman said, the appointee can work on acquiring civil service eligibility and become qualified for permanent appointment, subject to a favorable performance appraisal.
First-level positions are those up to the ninth salary grade under government’s salary schedule for civilian personnel.
Novel provisions
“One of the novel provisions of the BCSC is to give recognition and importance to the roles the mujahideen (male fighter) and mujahidat (female fighter) played on the struggle toward the creation of the Bangsamoro,” said Basman in a news release of the Bangsamoro Information Office.
“We want them, despite their absence of certain eligibility, to be part of the Bangsamoro government. That is why there is that special provision to enable them to do that for a period of time,” added Basman, one of those who defended the measure on the floor.
The code reserves up to 30 percent of first-level positions in the regional bureaucracy for appointees from among the ranks of revolutionaries, Basman added.
Deputy majority floor lead would er Raissa Jajurie said the code also provides the former guerrillas various opportunities for specialized training and professional development through the Development Academy of the Bangsamoro.
These will ensure their smooth integration into civil service, Jajurie explained.
Framework and rules
After eight months of legislative work, the civil service code was enacted on Feb. 24, providing the framework and rules on managing the personnel of the Bangsamoro bureaucracy.
It is one of the seven priority legislations during the current transition period.
Deputy Speaker Omar Yasser Sema, who presided over the Feb. 24 session, said the measure garnered the votes of all 67 members present that day.
Under the Bangsamoro Organic Law, the bureaucracy of the defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) was abolished, leaving untouched the education, health and social welfare agencies to ensure unhampered flow of services.
According to Director Mohajirin Ali of the Regional Planning and Development Authority, the regional government’s bureaucracy comprises some 40,000 workers, reckoned from the administrative code approved by the Bangsamoro Parliament last year.
So far, just over 30,000 positions were filled, including the 28,000 carried over from the defunct ARMM, Ali said.
“BCSC hopes to provide an effective instrument for good governance and responsive policies on human resource administration of the Bangsamoro government while addressing the legitimate needs and peculiarities of our people,” said parliament member Aida Silongan.
The bill was filed in parliament in July last year after mustering consensus among Cabinet members.