Intact parliamentary provision in BBL hailed

MANILA, Philippines - The government peace panel that negotiated with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) lauded yesterday both the House and Senate committees for retaining the provision in the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) on the parliamentary form of government for the new autonomous region.

“We laud the two chambers of Congress for retaining the provisions establishing a parliamentary form of government in the region, seeing as it is crucial to the reforms we hope to put in place in the Bangsamoro,” said government peace panel chairman Miriam Coronel-Ferrer.

Ferrer said the parliamentary system is the most important structural change being introduced and that is a shift well within the powers of Congress to grant since the Constitution left it up to Congress to define the structure of government in the autonomous region.

She said that while the House ad hoc committee on the BBL chaired by Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez retained the original proposal in the BBL, the Senate’s substitute bill radically altered the allocation of seats in the proposed Bangsamoro legislature.

The original proposal sets 60 members for the Bangsamoro parliament with the allocation of 24 seats to parliamentary districts, 30 to party-list groups and the remaining six seats reserved for non-Moro indigenous peoples, settler communities and women.

In the version of the Senate committee on local government, chaired by Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the district representation was increased to 40 seats, reserved seats increased to 12 and only eight were allocated for party-list groups.

In both versions, 60 seats would make up the Bangsamoro parliament.

“Lopsided representation in favor of district representatives, presumably elected on the basis of plurality or highest number of votes, will perpetuate personalistic politics, clan dynasties and weak political parties,” Ferrer said.

“On the other hand, we believe that allocating more seats to regional political parties and sectoral representatives would encourage the practice and development of a political culture in the region that is based on broad-based political parties with defined programs of governance competing in free and fair elections,” Ferrer added.

Ferrer appealed to senators to seriously reconsider the seat allocations in the regional parliament in order to ensure that new entrants in the electoral arena, such as the erstwhile Moro liberation fronts, women’s groups, environmental advocates and indigenous peoples, will stand a good chance to win seats.

“Our goal with this parliamentary form of government as envisioned in the original BBL is to ensure inclusive and more participatory governance. Allocating a large majority of the seats of the Bangsamoro parliament for parties and marginalized sectors will encourage politics based on principles and not personalities. It will empower the different segments of the people in the Bangsamoro,” Ferrer said.

Ferrer said the government peace panel is ready to provide technical assistance to the Senate when floor debates start on the Bangsamoro bill to help provide insights on the intent of the proposed provisions in the original BBL, especially the rationale behind the proposed parliamentary form of government for the region.

More debates

The plenary debates on the substitute bill for the BBL hit another snag yesterday after senators asked for more time to study the changes made by the Senate committee on local government on the measure.

Senate President Franklin Drilon and committee chairman Marcos gave way to the request of the senators yesterday, effectively delaying for another week the debates on the proposed measure.

Fourteen senators have signified intention to question and scrutinize the substitute measure.

This prompted Drilon to approve the request for the interpellation on Monday next week after senators manifested that they wanted more time during plenary session.

Drilon added he respects the decision of each senator.

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III explained that giving the senators more time to look into the two versions – one presented by the peace panel and the Marcos version – will enable the lawmakers to have substantive debates on the measure. 

Drilon said he is also waiting for Marcos to provide him and every senator with a matrix on the changes made into the original draft BBL to give them better grasp of the measure.

Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano has challenged the Aquino administration to support his counterpart bill that will bring peace and development in Mindanao.

Cayetano made his challenge during a news conference Monday as he presented for the first time his Mindanao Development Act Bill that he would be submitting Friday next week.

He said his bill will be a counterpart of the BBL, now revised as the Basic Law for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (BLBAR) to replace the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) as a result of the peace agreement signed with the MILF.

“The concept of this bill, we will challenge the government if they will allocate P150 billion for the BBL, why can’t they give a little bit over P100 billion to the rest of Mindanao, right?” Cayetano said.

Cayetano said he came to Zamboanga City to present his plans and get additional inputs before he files his bill.

He said they are still in the process of finalizing the Mindanao Development Act Bill. – With Christina Mendez, Perseus Echeminada, Roel Pareño