Bangsamoro Band-Aid Law (Or offering an ARMM, then a leg...)

Atty. Sittie Amirah Pendatu of the legal team of Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) couldn't stress it enough - nowhere in the proposed Bangsamoro Basic law do the words "Islamic State" appear. Yet her presentation of the government's latest peace ransom belie her claim.

Just a few points of interest that caught my attention during the forum last May 29, 2015:

- "Consistent with the Principle of Autonomy and the asymmetric relation of the Central Government and the Bangsamoro Government, the President shall exercise general supervision over the Bangsamoro Government to ensure that laws are faithfully executed." So the person elected by the people of the Republic of the Philippines, from Luzon to Mindanao, shall only have "general supervision" over the Bangsamoro region.


- The national government gets zero percent share from revenues derived from mining operations involving non-metallic resources.

- The redundancy of this provision, "In addition to the basic rights already enjoyed by the citizens residing in the Bangsamoro, the Bangsamoro Government shall guarantee the following enforceable rights..." followed by a list of rights already provided for and protected by the Constitution. Double redundancy: the provision ends with "The Bangsamoro Parliament may pass a law for the promotion and protection of the above-enumerated rights."


More questionable provisions have been tackled in this article: UP LAW EXPERT: The Lies of the Bangsamoro Basic Law


The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao was a result of peace negotiations/efforts between the government and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). That didn't sit well with some factions within the rebel group who believe that the Bangsamoro region should be an independent Islamic State, the ARMM was rejected, and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) was born, and the armed conflict in Mindanao continued.


The Bangsamoro Basic Law is now on the table, and the MILF likes what it sees. I asked Atty. Pendatu, "5, 7 or ten years from now, who will we have not consulted, the Abu Sayyaf? The Rajah Sulaiman Movement? Jemaah Islamiyah? And what are we going to offer then? How about the New People's Army? What did they want again?
Section 5 of our Constitution declares: "No law shall be made respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed." To me, the Bangsamoro Basic Law contradicts the first part of this section, and whatever its proponents' aspirations are are protected by the latter half.



Merriam-Webster defines terrorism as follows: "the use of violent acts to frighten the people in an area as a way of trying to achieve a political goal."


With Mamasapano on my mind, it's difficult not to see what the BBL for what it is: a political goal achieved by engaging in violence and other acts of terrorism.


We acknowledge the struggle of the people of Mindanao, whether Muslims, Lumads, Christians, etc., as we acknowledge too the injustices experienced and being experienced by other groups, communities, by families and every Filipino, and as in most conflicts, violence never achieves true justice. A Band-Aid in one part of the body will not heal a wound that's very deep and affects the whole nation.
Take it from Rizal: "Why independence if the slaves of today will be the tyrants of tomorrow?"