Lawyer and Moro constitutionalist Michael Mastura allayed fears raised massively on social media that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. might have violated the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) in issuing new appointments to the Bangsamoro Transitional Authority (BTA).
Mastura, a former member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) negotiating panel, said the issue fell “within reason and rule of law as well as the prerogative of Presidential General Supervision acceded to in BOL, not necessarily with CAB (Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro).”
On Monday, social media posts described an assembly of the MILF Central Committee in Camp Darapanan, as having come up with a statement, questioning the process of the replacements, saying the new appointees were not endorsed by the MILF.
The statement added that the BOL provision, stating that the BTA shall be MILF-led, has been violated.
Over the weekend, however, all 12 base commanders in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) have issued a resolution recognizing their chief of staff Abdulraof Macacua as the new BARMM Interim Chief Minister (ICM).
But Mastura said the listing on replacements with new members could be a product of the usual “assessment of performance evaluation of those who already served…”
“The way I read the Listing based on replacements with new appointees, is a product of the Assessment or Performance evaluation of those who already served, not to mention the previous ICM,” Mastura pointed out.
He had shared his statement with friends, days ahead of the MILF Central Committee assembly on Monday in Camp Darapanan—apparently in response to a legal query from the MILF, before the Darapanan statement came out on March 16.
However, the MILF Central Committee statement did not specifically question the appointment of Macacua as ICM of BARMM.
“With this phase, the transition is lapsing into the seven months preparation for the regular election of members of Parliament. Under constitutional law, the power to appoint carries with it the power to remove,” said Mastura, a delegate to the 1971 Constitutional Convention representing the then undivided Cotabato Province.
Mastura, amicus curiae (friend) of the Supreme Court and an academician, explained that the government, having granted the two three-year terms for the transition has complied with the peace agreement under the leadership of the MILF.
“Politically, the MILF leadership has cornered itself to ‘its own alone’ and (not in) the concept of “inclusivity” to serve the general or other than MILF-member constituencies,” Mastura pointed out.
Mastura said the government nominees to the BTA did not constitute a “real opposition in BTA” and so “must act with the MILF leadership.”
Editor’s Note: Updates were made throughout this story.