No ‘Plan B’ for Bangsamoro legislation

Miriam Coronel-Ferrer File Photo

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — The Aquino administration is so confident of the passage by Congress of the Bangsamoro Basic Law  in time for the setting up of a Bangsamoro Transitional Authority next year that it does not see any need for a backup plan, the government’s chief negotiator said Tuesday.

“The President is a popular President; and he enjoys much support from most members of Congress,” Professor Miriam Coronel Ferrer, the government’s chief negotiator in the peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, said in response to a question on what the government would do if the draft legislation does not pass congressional scrutiny.

Speaking at a peace forum here on Tuesday, Ferrer said that because it foresees the passage of the BBL, the government negotiating team has not prepared any alternative plan to deal with any  situation in the event Congress fails to pass the law creating a Bangsamoro autonomous region in Mindanao in the place of the Autonomous Region In Muslim Mindanao at present.

“We have no ‘Plan B’ for that,” she said.

Ferrer said the support of the President’s congressional allies was reason enough to be confident about the passage of the basic law.

Besides, Ferrer said, aside from the provisions of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro and its annexes, which were made public, the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law only provides more details with respect to governance, which will start with the formation of a Bangsamoro Transitional Authority.

Should Congress reject the BBL, Ferrer said, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao would remain in place by virtue of ARMM charter, Republic Act 9054.

The BBL ” is a repealing law, and if it cannot repeal the existing law, then the ARMM stays,” Ferrer said.

Lawyer Anwar Malang, secretary of the ARMM’s Department of the Interior and Local Governments, said in the same forum, which was attended mostly by municipal local government officers,  that a database should be established to ensure proper accounting of government assets and personnel that would be affected by a massive office reorganization  and fresh recruitment when Bangsamoro is established to replace the ARMM.

Most of the employees raised concerns affecting their own welfare, ranging from separation pay  and chances of getting rehired in a Bangsamoro setup, to perceived biases against Christians in ARMM appointments.

Participant Zimm Pasaol said Christians have hardly had any promotion to mid-level executive posts under Muslim administrations since 1993.

But ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman and Malang denied this, saying Pasaol himself had just been promoted to MLGO (municipal local government officer), a key DILG position in the local government unit.

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