It's deja vu! Last week I wrote that the final version of the BBL was approved just after midnight on July 14th. Well it happened again!
From the original Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) the bill was amended to be the proposed “Bangsamoro Organic Law” to adhere to the 1987 Constitution.
Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, chair of the Senate bicam panel, expressed hope that the approval of the proposed Bangsamoro Organic Law will “address the aspirations of our brothers and sisters in the Bangsamoro” and “convince the population not to join extremist groups.”
Bangsamoro Transition Commission chair and Moro Islamic Liberation Front chair Ghazali Jaafar said they are satisfied with how the Bangsamoro measure came about.
“It may not be a perfect law, but it is good to start with,” Jaafar said as he thanked the bicameral committee.
Zubiri said that the enactment of the Bangsamoro Organic Law will lead to the economical development of Mindanao and the country.
“When guns go silent in the island of Mindanao, that would lead to the advantage of every Filipino,” he said.
Contentious provisions slowed down the deliberations of the bicameral committee. Lawmakers earlier hoped to finish last Thursday, and then on Tuesday, but to no avail.
Following the grueling bicam meeting Wednesday night, House Majority Leader Roldolfo Fariñas said he is confident that the final version of the Bangsamoro law will “definitely” stand the test of constitutionality.
“Because we were very careful. Precisely, we had several problems along the way because we could not grant evrything they want. An in [all] fairness to them they accepted everything,” he said.
You remember Ghazali Jaafar right?
Will this less than perfect BOL satisfy the demands of the MILF and the MNLF and all the rest? What does he mean that this new BOL is "a good start"? Sounds ominous. Zubiri's hope that passing this law will “convince the population not to join extremist groups" is ridiculous since it is a terrorist group, MILF, who will be running the government!
Interesting that just before this session a MILF representative claimed everything was in shambles.
Interesting that before the BBL was passed as the BOL Duterte opined that they might need more time.
The president also assured Moros that the untapped oil reserves believed to be underneath the Liguasan Marsh in Maguindanao would not be taken away from them by the national government.
"The government will not claim that. That is yours. No one will intervene there...That's my commitment," Duterte said.
"It will remain in your control and possession but you just have to pay the taxes and the services that the government would spend," he added.
The untapped oil and gas reserves believed to be beneath the Liguasan Marsh has an estimated value of $1 billion.
The area has been the site of fierce encounters between government forces and Moro rebels, including a clash in Mamasapano town that claimed the lives of more than 60 Filipinos, including 44 police commandos in 2015.
Duterte said the resources in Liguasan Marsh could spur economic activity in Maguindanao. He, however, expressed hopes that Moros would not bar other groups from entering the area.
"If there are trillions of cubic meters of oil, do not be worried at all. The government won't claim it...If you grow rich there in Maguindanao and in Sultan Kudarat, do not prohibit others from going there. Because the money is there.
"If there is a commercial activity and there’s really oil in Liguasan Marsh, my God, everyone will go there. Christian, Muslims, Lumad and will join the fray to enjoy
progress and development."
I do not know what the final draft of the BOL has to say about natural resources and who owns what but if the government gives away billions of dollars of natural gas or oil or whatever is there that is just plain folly. Of course these resources would have to be developed which means having outside companies coming in to drill and excavate but who would want to do that? What company in their right mind would want to work in a region literally ruled by terrorists? And would Congress really agree to sign away the Philippines' rights?
Naturally not everyone is on board the the BOL.
“The failure of governance in the ARMM (Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao), not only the decades-long conflict, is also to be blamed for the high incidence of poverty in the region,” he added.
The senator said the absence of this provision could compromise other measures for good leadership. These are the measures proposed by Congress.
“Unfortunately, the future of the Bangsamoro region will be in the hands of a very few families again, because of our failure to prevent political dynasty,” Drilon said.
Drilion is talking about his proposed anti-dynasty measure. As if nepotism is even near the root of the problems in the region. Maybe Drilion can all take a look around and see that Muslim countries have historically been economically and governmentally poor places. Maybe the failure of governance is because Muslims have no idea how to govern in a way that reflects anything but their religion. Muslim governance is always religious. It is always Shar'ia law that rules a Muslim nation and which will also be the guiding principle in the BOL as it already is throughout the Muslim majority of Mindanao.
(h) "Muslim Law" (Shari'a) refers to all the ordinances and regulations governing Muslims as found principally in the Qur'an and the Hadith.
So much for separation of church and state!
Section 6. The separation of Church and State shall be inviolable.
https://www.lawphil.net/consti/cons1987.html
Aside from actual terrorists ruling a semi-sovering nation within the Republic of the Philippines the other problem is that those terrorists and those in the ARMM pushing hard for the BOL do not want the inhabitants of this proposed nation to be considered Filipinos or part of the Philippines. This is a problem which had to be addressed legislatively.
According to House Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas, the committee not only changed the name of the law but also edited its preamble.
“We accepted mainly what they wanted, but we saw to it [that we retained the phrase] Filipino people’,” Fariñas said in ambush interview after the committee hearing. “The way they crafted it, it was like the Bangsamoro people were speaking of themselves.”
“[So we put in there ‘Filipino people,’ in recognition of their aspirations of the Bangsamoro people and the other inhabitants of Muslim Mindanao,” he added.
And just what are these aspirations? From all I have read I would say the aspiration of these people is to fully separate themselves from the Republic of the Philippines.
The governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) said Friday the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) would bring the people of Mindanao closer to the dreams of their forefathers to achieve freedom from disturbance and abuses.
What are these dreams exactly? How would the BOL help the people of Mindanao achieve freedom from disturbance and abuses? Why not just drop the guns and stop killing and kidnapping each other? That would bring immediate peace. But that is not what they are talking about. They are talking about freedom from disturbance and abuses from "Imperial Manila."
Doubtful the BOL will bring peace and prosperity. Doubtful it will end violence and war in Mindanao.
"The assistance will include training, equipment, and other support to build comprehensive law enforcement capacity within a rule of law framework to deny terrorist operations, funding, and movement," the US Embassy said in a statement.
The Philippines has been fighting Islamic State-inspired terrorist groups like the Maute group, which laid siege to Marawi City from May to October in 2017. It has also been conducting operations against the Bangsamoro Islamic Liberation Front in parts of Maguindanao and against the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.
Will Duterte turn down this money after he signs the BOL into law? If the BOL will end war and violence in Mindanao then the Philippines won't need all that money.
