Blocking journey to peace

Last Sept.10, the Supreme Court (SC) upheld the constitutionality of Republic Act (RA) No. 11054, or the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL). RA 11054 enacted on July 27, 2018 created the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) as a political entity and its corresponding governmental structures. However, the same SC ruling declared Sulu as not part of the BARMM that was reconstituted out of the original Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Later in 2018, Sulu Governor Abdusakur Tan II questioned before the SC the legality of the BOL, arguing that ARMM cannot be abolished without amending the Constitution. Sulu was among the provinces included in the original ARMM and then turned into BARMM along with Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur and Tawi-Tawi.

The majority residents of these provinces ratified their inclusion in the BARMM, except for Sulu. In a January 2019  plebiscite, 54 percent of Sulu opted out of the BARMM versus 46 percent of “Yes” votes for inclusion. Thus the SC ruled it was wrong to include Sulu in BARMM because it violates Article X, Section 18 of the Constitution, which states that only provinces, cities and geographic areas voting favorably in the plebiscite shall be included in the autonomous region.

Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri, principal author and sponsor of the BOL, welcomed the SC ruling as a vindication of the previous Congress in the very careful crafting of this law. After all, Zubiri stressed, the lawmakers fully supported the peace pacts entered into by administrations past with the major secessionist groups in Mindanao. These included the formal peace agreements separately forged one after the other with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and later, with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

“We needed a political solution to this more than 30 to 40 years of the secessionist, extremism in Mindanao. This (BOL) is the political solution that former president Rodrigo Duterte called me up to take active participation in by way of sponsoring this law,” Zubiri told us at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay last Wednesday. When he became lawmaker, first as congressman from Bukidnon, Zubiri took it upon himself to advocate the call for peace and development in the once strife-torn Mindanao.

“We feel vindicated even if I incurred the ire of the Sulu governor,” Zubiri quipped.

The SC decision was handed down barely a month before the official filing of certificates of candidacy (COCs) for the first-ever election of the members of the BARMM Parliament. As provided for by another law, the election for the BARMM Parliament is synchronized with the holding of the May 2025 national and local elections. Thus, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) set the filing of the COCs for those running in the BARMM Parliament on Nov. 4 to 9 this year.

But according to Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Asnin K. Pendatun, the separation of Sulu from the BARMM will result in as many as 5,700 employees of Sulu losing their jobs. Of the total employees, Pendatun disclosed at the same Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum that at least 4,470 of them are public school teachers and non-teaching personnel employed in the BARMM.

Speaking in behalf of the BTA, Pendatun vowed to comply though with the SC ruling. Pendatun explained the displaced employees will have to henceforth seek out their salaries and wages from the provincial government of Sulu, if there are funds for it. Acting on these complications, PBBM vowed to continue implementing key projects in Sulu. Meeting Wednesday night at Malacañang with Sulu leaders, the Chief Executive gave these reassurances to ensure that Sulu will stay “on the path to peace, unity and development.”

Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Amenah Pangandaman echoed PBBM’s commitments to exert all efforts to ensure a smooth transition to ensure the continued delivery of essential government services in Sulu. Calling for status quo, Pangandaman advised that Sulu is still entitled to charge their payroll from the P70-billion annual “block grant” appropriations to the BARMM from the national government.

Pendatun though warned there are other complications of the SC ruling, in particular with the on-going preparations of the BTA with the Comelec for the holding of the first-ever elections next year for the 80 members of the BARMM Parliament. He noted with concern the SC did not state in its ruling what would happen to the seven legislative districts of Sulu now that it is separated from the BARMM.

However, the same SC ruling upheld the parliamentary form of the Bangsamoro government. An autonomous region is not prohibited from prescribing a form of government that differs from the national government so long as it upholds democratic principles such as the members of the Parliament being elected by its people as representatives. In turn, the Bangsamoro Parliament elects a Chief Minister among themselves who shall exercise the executive powers of the Bangsamoro government.

The 80-man BTA is the transitory parliamentary body headed by former MILF chieftain Ahod Ebrahim as BTA Chief Minister with a mix of former MNLF, MILF, ulamas, Christian settlers and indigenous peoples in the BARMM. They were all appointed and they will cease their functions once the elected members of the BARMM Parliament are elected and formally installed into office.

As a Maguindanaoan, the 33-year-old Pendatun recalled the Mindanao peace efforts started way back with the 1979 Tripoli Agreement entered into by the late president Ferdinand E. Marcos. “From father to son,” Pendatun hailed as fitting that the envisioned lasting peace in Mindanao culminates under the present administration of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM).

The 15 Magistrates finally rendered a unanimous ruling in favor of the petitioners. While they took this long to resolve it, the SC headed by Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo decided that their ruling is immediately executory.

But why did it take six years for the High Court to resolve this? Did the so-called “gods in Faura” decide on this BARMM petition in a vacuum?

Such wanton judicial delay is blocking Mindanao’s troubled journey to peace.