Bangsamoro seeks 3 more years for transition

COTABATO CITY—The interim Bangsamoro parliament has asked Congress to extend the transition period of the expanded autonomous government for another three years after its lapse in 2022.

“The [current] transition period is [too] short, [considering that] we are establishing a new entity,” said Jose Lorena, a member of the Bangsamoro parliament and one of the main authors of the resolution seeking the extension.

Once Congress extends the transition period, the schedule of the first regular election in the Bangsamoro will be moved to 2025 The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), an expanded autonomous region created upon the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) in 2019, is the outcome of the comprehensive peace agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) after years of negotiations.

Member of Parliament Omar Yasser Sema said the Bangsamoro Transition Commission, which drafted the law, had proposed a six-year transition period, but Congress granted only three years.

While the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) has taken significant strides in its service as the interim government, the three-year transition period from 2019 to 2022 is not enough to accomplish its targets, according to the resolution passed unanimously on Tuesday.

An extension of three years would allow the BARMM sufficient time to fulfill its mandate, the resolution said.

Governance, normalization

“I stand here not to ask for my extension but for the extension of the transition period,” Lorena said.

BARMM Chief Minister Ahod “Al-Haj Murad” Ebrahim, during the FactsFirst podcast, “Pressure on Bangsamoro,” on Nov. 13, said the peace process between the government and the MILF covered the “governance track,” which included the setting up of the Bangsamoro government and its organization; and the normalization track, which covered the decommissioning of the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF), the dismantling of private armies and the setting up of a police force in the region.

“Also covered under the normalization track would be the rehabilitation of existing combatants after they were decommissioned and this would include their amnesty,” Ebrahim said in the podcast.

“We think that if the elections would push through in 2022 in the BARMM, the normalization track would be sidelined and would not get implemented. This would be a big problem,” he said.

P1-M economic package

Ebrahim said each of the initial 12,000 decommissioned BIAF combatants had yet to receive the P1-million economic package promised them by the national government in exchange for their peaceful return to civilian life.

A total of 40,000 former MILF combatants had been targeted for decommissioning, he said.

“Until now, [the promised economic package] has not been released. How do we convince the next batch of combatants [who would be decommissioned]?” he asked.

Mohagher Iqbal, head of the Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education in the Bangsamoro who attended the parliament’s session online, agreed that the three-year transition period was short.

“Just imagine, 17 long years of negotiations, can we implement what has been in the law for just three years? It’s just right that we have to pass this resolution,” Iqbal said.

For the people

“[This is] not a self-serving exercise but [one that will be] for the benefit of our people. It is part of our assertion that we have to finish well what we have started,” he added.

The Mindanao People’s Caucus (MPC), a team from a network of civil society organizations commissioned to do the rapid midterm review of the Bangsamoro transition, also recommended the extension of the transition period.

According to MPC, the pandemic has robbed the BTA of the chance to implement effectively its programs, projects and services.

The provincial boards of Tawi-Tawi and Maguindanao and the League of Municipalities Tawi-Tawi chapter also urged Congress to extend the transition period by rescheduling the first election of the parliament from May 2022 to May 2025.

The BOL provides for the immediate dissolution of the BTA once the first set of elected officials in the BARMM assumes office.