The Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) contains several unconstitutional provisions, two retired justices of the Supreme Court said Wednesday.
In an interview during the launch of the 366-page Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) journal on the BBL, retired Justice Vicente Mendoza said the provision that allows the creation of a parliamentary form of government in the Bansamoro region is unconstitutional.
“You can’t have a parliamentary form of government under the present system. That’s contrary to the Constitution,” the retired magistrate added.
“The provisions on the Bangsamoro government are unconstitutional. Must our Constitution be violated in order to have peace and development in Mindanao? You can have peace and development without violating the Constitution,” said Mendoza, one of the authors of the journal.
A parliamentary government in Bangsamoro makes it “asymmetrical to the government of the Philippines and symmetrical to the government of the federation of Malaysia,” Mendoza said.
To correct the constitutional infirmities in the BBL, Congress should just abandon the flawed provisions or undertake amendments to the Constitution, he said.
Mendoza also rejected the suggestion of a local plebiscite on the BBL.
“The proposed BBL contained several provisions that are not simply local in application. It must be submitted to the entire Filipino people for approval,” Mendoza said.
“A plebiscite cannot be done where only Bangsamoro people can vote. People in Luzon and Visayas are deeply affected by the proposed legislation and therefore, they must also be allowed to participate in a plebiscite to express whether they want the provisions,” he said.
Mendoza also sought to amend the portion that says the Bangsamoro territory “shall remain part of the Philippines” to read “shall remain an integral and inseparatble part of the national territory.”
Retired Justice Florentino Feliciano said the BBL alone could not bring peace to Mindanao, and asked how the BBL could bind members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front when they are considered insurgents.
“Insurgents are rebels fighting a sovereign state. Rebellion is a serious offense against the republic,” the retired magistrate said, noting that there are also armed Moro and non-Moro groups other than the MILF, like the Abu Sayyaf, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, and the New People’s Army.
“Thus, a peace agreement entered into by the Republic of the Philippines with MILF does not and cannot necessarily bring peace in Mindanao regardless of what our peace panel ladies our insisting on,” he said, referring to the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Deles and government chief peace negotiator Miriam Coronel Ferrer.
Feliciano also scored the provision in the BBL that gives only supervisory or reserved powers to the national government.
“Think of the control of natural resources that would be vested and exercised by the Bangsamoro entity under BBL. That function is normally, and elsewhere in the republic, vested in the government of a republic,” he said.
Feliciano also expressed apprehension that foreign states and foreign corporations would be anxiously waiting to secure exploration permits from the Bangsamoro entity over Mindanao’s most strategic resources like oil, gas, and minerals.
“The government and the republic must be prepared to defend by all means… those resources,” the retired justice said.
IBP national president Vicente Joyas said the IBP supports the passage and implementation of the BBL, which is submitted to a vote by the House of Representatives next week.
“However, if after going over the approved law the IBP shall find out there are constitutional flaws in the law that is approved, then I am announcing to you today that we will seek redress and opinion from the higher court,” Joyas said.
A representative of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) warned of “a lasting conflic instead of a lasting peace” in Muslim Mindanao, after his group was left out of the peace process between the government and the MILF.
“The passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law might not deliver the desired outcome,” said Habib Mujahib of the MNLF Islamic Command Council during a Senate hearing on the BBL.
During the same hearing in Patikul, Sulu, Jolo Mayor Hussin Amin criticized the BBL as being “one-sided” because it favors the MILF. No other sectors were consulted, he said.
“Sad to say, the power has been given to the MILF,” said Amin, referring to the composition of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) headed by chief MILF negotiator Mohagher Iqbal.
Jolo Bishop Romero Villanueva supported the assertions of Mujahib and Amin in observing that the MNLF was not included in the peace agreement.
While peace is the only hope for Mindanao, he noted that the draft BBL has not really been agreed upon by the two biggest groups, MILF and MNLF.
Speaking in the BBL hearing held at the multi-purpose gymnasium near the provincial capitol, Amin said the local governments in the core territory of the proposed Bangsamoro political entity were left out of consultations.
Benedicto Bacani, who represented a consortium of think tanks that includes the Institute for Autonomy and Governance, proposed to make the BBL much more inclusive. He said Sulu is the bastion of the proud Tausugs and the MNLF.
Mujahib emphasized that the government already has existing agreements with the MNLF and that this should be reflected in the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro.
“Really, this is not comprehensive because stakeholder groups like the MNLF are not included,” said Mujahib.
He also suggested in a position paper submitted to the Senate committee on local governments headed by Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr., that the two groups—the MILF and MNLF—can have separate areas.
The BBL is the result of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro signed between the government and the MILF in March 2014.
Meanwhile, Sulu Governor Abdusakur Tan II said he hoped that public hearings on BBL will dispel fears there will be a forceful takeover of the MILF once the Bangsamoro Basic Law is passed.
In his opening speech, Tan aired the fears of many Filipinos about a possible MILF takeover.
“I think most of us here have not read the draft law. What is being talked about here is that the MILF will take over Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and provinces under it,” said Tan.
He said the people cannot be blamed for believing this because the BBL was not thoroughly explained to them and to the ordinary people.
He said the people of Sulu would be unified and not divided if the BBL were fully explained to them.
“With the presence of various sectors here today, I hope that the Senate committee and the people participating can clear the air that this current episode of dealing with the region is not about the virtual takeover of local governance by an occupying force as bannered by some forces,” said the Sulu governor.
The public hearing was also attended by Sulu Vice Gov. Abdusakur Tan, mayors from Sulu towns, government officials, private individuals and members of NGOs. Davao del Norte Rep. Anton Lagdameo was also present in the hearing.
Marcos will preside today over the BBL public hearing in Zamboanga City.
After the Mindanao hearings, Marcos said he will schedule another hearing in Manila, where leaders of the MNLF will be invited to air their side on the proposed measure.
Government peace negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer thanked Marcos for steering the various public consultations on the BBL, particularly in Mindanao.
“We appreciate the efforts to expedite the completion of this committee report,” said Ferrer.
In the House, the 75-man ad hoc panel tasked to scrutinize the BBL is hopeful the MILF will accept whatever amendments Congress makes to the measure.
Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, chairman of the ad hoc panel, also said his panel is planning to sit with the MILF leadership to explain the amendments to be made to the BBL.
“We are confident that the BBL version we will approve in the House will be acceptable to all parties concerned, including the MILF,” Rodriguez said.
The ad hoc panel is set to vote on the measure next week as it is now preparing a “working draft” of the measure that would include the proposed amendments.
The working draft would be the subject of the discussion and voting of the measure line by line by provision set on May 18 to 20.
House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. maintained that the House leadership has the numbers to ensure the passage of the controversial measure.
“I am reasonably certain we have the numbers,” Belmonte said.
Belmonte had earlier denied that the Liberal Party has its version of the BBL that it wants approved.
Davao del Norte Rep. Anthony del Rosario, an LP member, proposed various refinements to some provisions in the Bangsamoro bill during the ad hoc panel’s supposed voting schedule.
Del Rosario’s move were interpreted by some anti-BBL forces that the administration would be pushing its own version of the measure.
A Teduray leader on Wednesday urged Congress to review all the BBL provisions on indigenous peoples, fearing that they might lose their identity and territory as non-Moro indigeous peoples.
“We are expecting that Congress will study carefully all the provisions in the BBL related to IP identity so that we will not be victims of forced assimilation or integration (to the Bangsamoro); the recognition, promotion and protection of our collective and individual human rights; our rights pertaining to land and natural resources (ancestral domain), and the applicability ofIndigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) in the Bangsamoro,” Alim Bandara, Timuay Justice and Governance, told The Standard.
Bandara said this means that their rights already recognized by law should not be diminished under the BBL. – With Maricel V. Cruz and Ronald O. Reyes