BBL implementation to cost P72 B annually

Implementing the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), which seeks to create a new autonomous region in Mindanao, will cost at least P72 billion annually and senators want to make sure the money will not be lost to corruption and poor management.

At the resumption of hearings on the BBL at the Senate, senators vowed to support various funding initiatives for the proposed Bangsamoro autonomous region.

Sen. Loren Legarda, chair of the Senate committee on finance, said in a remote event that the BBL will not be passed in Congress, she will push for the appropriation of the amount provided in the bill in the national budget.

“Please give details on how you will operationalize that block grant,” Legarda asked members of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC), which wrote the draft BBL.

Under the BBL draft sent to Congress, “the Central Government shall provide an annual block grant which shall be the share of the Bangsamoro in the national internal revenue of the government.”

BTC commissioner Raissa Jajurie said the new Bangsamoro government would not want to rely on the generosity of Congress or the national government for its funding.

Jajurie said the BBL proposes an automatic appropriation to ensure the funds are released on time.

Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, chairman of the Senate subcommittee on the BBL, also vowed to support the measure, saying other regions in Mindanao are receiving equivalent amounts but the present Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao is receiving only about half in the annual budget.

“I believe some accountability (on the use of funds) has to be recognized,” Zubiri said as he pushed for a pre-audit and post audit process to help prevent corruption and mismanagement.

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto pressed for a clear price tag of the BBL as a “clear fiscal picture” will pave the way for the landmark legislation’s passage.

“We are all for financing peace. I prefer costly peace than a cheap war. But the nation must be told how heavy the burden on the taxpayers will be. How many billions of pesos and for how long?” Recto said.

He said the BBL “is also an appropriations and revenue bill as it creates financial obligations in the tens of billions of pesos (and) it decides on the fate of taxes collected.”

The annual block grant shall be automatically appropriated to the Bangsamoro government, which means it cannot be changed, he said.

Also immediately after the ratification of the BBL, and for another five years, the central government shall provide additional funds that would subsidize expenditure for development projects and infrastructure in the Bangsamoro.

The additional funds are on top of its share from the national internal revenue, annual block grant, Special Development Fund (SDF), and funds from national government agencies downloaded to the Bangsamoro region.

The SDF shall be P100 billion for 20 years, P10 billion of which shall be given by the national government the year following the ratification of the BBL.

Thereafter, P8 billion pesos will be released annually for the next four years and P6 billion annually from year six to 10.

The balance will be released in 10 equal annual installments of P2.8 billion.