Senate panel keen on removing 3 BBL provisions

Senate committee on local government chairman Ferdinand Marcos Jr. wants the provisions empowering the envisioned Bangsamoro region to set up its own Commission on Elections, Commission on Audit and Civil Service Commission removed from the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) for being unconstitutional.

The power of the Office of the Ombudsman also cannot be delegated, he added.

Likewise, Marcos said the proposed Bangsamoro police cannot likewise be independent from the authority of the Philippine National Police, a provision which the House of Representatives is looking at deleting from the draft BBL.

“We already talked about the constitutional bodies: Comelec, COA and the Civil Service, Office of the Ombudsman,” he said.

“Even the Office of the Ombudsman has taken the position that its powers cannot be diminished because it is a constitutional body.

“Then the question of the police must be scrutinized thoroughly. I think the House has already struck it out.”

Marcos said he will introduce another amendment to explicitly prohibit the envisioned Bangsamoro territory from declaring independence from the Philippines. “Now we return to the BBL, the provision in the ARMM organic law that they continue to pledge allegiance to the Republic of the Philippines and that it will not be used as a first step for secession.”

Marcos said his committee is also looking to reduce the provisions on the wealth sharing percentages between the national government and the proposed Bangsamoro government.

Some local governments are complaining that so much funds and leeway are being given away to the proposed Bangsamoro government, he added.

Marcos said it is like rewarding rebellion: if you wage war, you would be paid a huge amount of money.

“So my joke is that I would separate the Ilocano so we would also get P75 billion a year,” he said in Filipino.

“Even if it’s a joke, that is the thinking. Why are you rewarding? And the other local governments are saying that it’s not right that everything is not equal.”

MILF stands by draft BBL

In an interview after the Senate hearing, MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal said his group stands by the draft law.

“That is precisely why it has to undertake a legal process, for Congress to look at the issue of the BBL,” he said.

“But you know, we have to understand here that BBL is not an ordinary legislation. It is on the basis of a signed document the FAB and the CAB, the BBL is crafted by the Bangsamoro Transition Commission which was authorized by law as a result of EO 120.”

Iqbal stood firm on the constitutionality of the proposed BBL.

“It’s not about unconstitutional,” he said.

“We have seen to it from the level of technical committee, to the level of the panel, to the level of the BTC up to the level of the Office of the President that nothing in the BBL would be seen or regarded as unconstitutional.

“We will stand by the original basic law as crafted but we will be open for enhancement and improvement.”

No secession

Iqbal assured the nation that the proposed Bangsamoro government will not secede from the Philippines.

“It is still a part of the Philippines,” he said. “We are creating an autonomy in the Philippines for the Bangsamoro people. It’s part of the Philippines. No, it’s very clear that the Bangsamoro territory is part of the Philippines.”

Iqbal said a provision on nonsecession in the BBL will not deter other rebel groups from advocating such an objective.

“We have to make the BBL meet international standards,” he said.

“And that would not be an antidote to secession even if you put everything into the BBL that there is no right to secession; if you are a rebel, you will not see that. You will always be a rebel no matter what.

“The best antidote for people like the Bangsamoro not to secede is treat them humanely. The same as you are, but if you continue to oppress them, if you continue to persecute them then they will feel isolated, and they will feel frustrated and then that will send them out of the country.”

Iqbal cited similar cases in Quebec in Canada and Scotland in the United Kingdom, where people rejected independence through a referendum.

Palace rejects national plebiscite

In a text message to reporters, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda rejected yesterday as unconstitutional the proposal of Sen. Francis Escudero to hold a national plebiscite for the draft BBL to get the real sentiments of the Filipino people.

“Constituent units refer to the areas (provinces, cities, and geographic areas) covered by what will comprise the autonomous region,” he said.

Lacierda said Article X Section 18, second paragraph of the Constitution is the basis for the holding of the plebiscite in the areas to be affected.

“The creation of the Autonomous Region shall be effective when approved by a majority of the votes cast by the constituent units in a plebiscite called for the purpose, provided that only provinces, cities and geographic areas voting favorably in such plebiscite shall be included in the Autonomous Region,” he quoted the Constitution.

BIFF detonates bomb

Meanwhile, in Maguindanao, a bomb was detonated on a roadside while a convoy of Army tanks and combat vehicles was passing through the highway in Lower Salbu in Datu Saudi town in Maguindanao Sunday night.

Capt. Jo-Ann Petinglay, Army’s 6th Infantry Division spokesman, said nobody was hurt in the explosion that was blamed on the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).

The explosive was rigged with a blasting mechanism attached to a mobile phone, she said.