Palace hands off on petition vs BOL

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang on Tuesday distanced itself from the petition filed before the Supreme Court asking to declare the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) as unconstitutional and unlawful.

“We will let the Supreme Court decide on that matter. As we said, we will always defer to the other branch of the government,” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a Palace briefing.

“I will defer to the decision of the Supreme Court. We will not make any comment on that, because it’s now pending before the court,” he added.

The Philippine Constitution Association (Philconsa) recently urged the High Court to declare Republic Act (RA) 11054 or BOL, which grants greater autonomy to Muslim Mindanao, as illegal and unconstitutional.

The Philconsa argued that the BOL violates Sections 18 and 19 of Article 10 of the 1987 Constitution, which allows the enactment of only one organic act for Muslim Mindanao.

RA 11054 creates the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Barmm) in place of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm) as a result of the 2014 peace pact with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

The Commission on Elections has already scheduled two separate days for the plebiscite on the BOL next year. The first day will be on January 21, 2019, while the second will be on February 6, 2019.

READ: Comelec sets plebiscite for BOL on Jan. 21, 2019

Under the Bangsamoro law, the same ARMM areas will still be part of the new region while Cotabato City, Isabela City, 6 Lanao del Norte towns and 39 North Cotabato provinces may opt to be included. /ee