Bangsamoro: If peace prevails, will prosperity abound?
Peace is one of progress’ prerequisites. If there is no peace, absolutely, there shall be no progress. The logic is very simple. When a place is at war, people hide. Therefore, everyone is unproductive. That’s a no-brainer. Such is the very essence why we need peace in the provinces within the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao through the passage of the basic law. This time though, they prefer a more historic and inherently Muslim-Mindanao jargon, Bangsamoro.
Despite these honest to goodness initiatives, however, some legislators, intellectuals and even passive bystanders have remained skeptical. This is very understandable though. With most of the Fallen 44 questions still unanswered, mutual distrusts are piercing through every supposed Bangsamoro citizen’s bone. Yet, hopeful, we always resign to the aged-old adage, “give peace a chance.”
Therefore, since peace, agreeably, is paramount, then, let’s give it another chance. We say “another” because we’ve given it some chances through Nur Misuari’s MNLF in the past which cost us, honest taxpayers, billions of pesos. And what happened? We only see warlords perpetually amassing wealth while their poor followers had become unwilling paupers.
So that, today, as we scrutinize the blueprint of this MILF backed proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law, we must also revisit the MNLF’s ARMM initiatives. First and foremost, we shall look into Section 2 and 3 of House Bill No. 4994 or the BBL. Section 2, for one, talks about “Concurrent Powers.” Among the very long enumeration is paragraph 7, on “Auditing”. It says, “The Bangsamoro auditing body shall have auditing responsibility over public funds utilized by the Bangsamoro, without prejudice to the power, authority and duty of the national Commission on Audit (COA). The Bangsamoro Government shall ensure transparency mechanisms consistent with open government practices.”
Every sound-minded citizen should be wary about this provision. For instance, with the present set up, the Commission on Audit (COA), in its 2009 examination of the accounts and records of ARMM (the ARMM offices only) reported that among other very serious infractions, the correctness of their local currency current bank account as shown in their financial statements cannot be ascertained as bank reconciliation is not prepared. Moreover, cash advances amounting to P17,203,678.62 remained unliquidated as of December 31, 2009. Worst, the same report emphasized that they (COA) extremely doubt the physical existence of property, plant and equipment valued at P22,201,265.76 (net of depreciation) due to the continuous failure of the agency to conduct physical inventory. Simply put, the COA now is transparent but we just didn’t do anything to correct the system or penalize the culprits. With the Bangsamoro, can we still enjoy the same transparency? If they won’t be transparent, then it would appear everything shall be aboveboard. Then, everyone comes out clean. That should be scary.
Moreover, Section 3 talks about “Exclusive Powers”. Among the very sensitive paragraphs is no. 13, on “Financial and banking system”. It says, “This is without prejudice to the power of supervision of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and provided further that the Bangsamoro Government, the BSP, the Department of Finance (DOF), and the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) shall jointly promote the development of the Islamic banking system, to include among others the establishment of a Shari’ah supervisory board.”
Yes, they demanded for this exclusive power. Whatever their basis are, the fact remains that they are even a failure in just running a bank, the Al-Amanah Bank, which was established supposedly for their own banking needs. The truth is, the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) had to come in to bail them out of trouble. For one, the bank’s 2006 financial statements (prior to DBP’s takeover) showed disappointing results. Since its inception, the bank has been saddled with huge operating losses and sizeable non-productive assets. In 2006, the bank just earned P9,513,859. Its total expenses was way above at P62,681,813 thus, leaving a net loss of P53,167,954. As this scenario has been going on for years, the accumulated losses has ballooned to P562,869,351. With a paid up capital of only P50,238,260, the bank was capital deficient by P510,137,715 as of December 31, 2006. Said capital deficiency simply means that the bank’s liability is P510,137,715 more than its assets. Apparently, this situation has raised doubts as to the ability of the bank to continue as a going concern.
Amazingly, despite these undesirable track records, they’ve pleaded not just for expanded territory but more autonomy in all fronts as well. They demanded to take control of their political and economic direction within the expanded region. By their own gestures, this is, as if, the real panacea for the political and economic ills they are in right now. Whether it is an appropriate solution, only the future can tell. History and current events, however, showed otherwise. In terms of good governance, ARMM has been a total failure. Instead of peace and prosperity, is this not history repeating itself?
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