The Senate version of the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) would deny control and supervision over fisheries and other resources in all lakes, rivers and inland bodies of water in their region to the Bangsamoro government.
This was pointed out on Tuesday by professor Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, the chief government peace negotiator, who said “this deletion in Senate Bill No. 2894 is troubling.”
Ferrer headed the government panel that negotiated a peace with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front that would have substance once a law governing a new Bangsamoro entity is signed.
Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is the author of the substitute Senate measure on the BBL—calling it the Basic Law on the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region—after the original BBL was mangled by legislators opposed to provisions that went against the Constitution.
In a statement, Ferrer said: “The regulation of inland waters, along with municipal coastal waters, had already devolved to local governments and the present Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.”
Concerns over Lake Lanao
“Why revert such right and responsibility over such bodies of water in far-flung Mindanao to the national government in Metro Manila?” she said.
Ferrer said the provision granting exclusive power over inland waters to the new entity may have been removed because of concerns over Lake Lanao, the water source that powers the Agus hydroelectric plants.
“Some sectors have expressed fear the future Bangsamoro government will arbitrarily close down Lake Lanao, aggravating the current undersupply of electric power in Mindanao,” she said.
According to Ferrer, “the local population benefits from the power plants that supply them with electricity and government revenues, aside from minimizing flooding in the low-lying areas.”
Since the Agus power facilities are connected to the Mindanao grid and the waters of Lake Lanao cross over to other local governments outside the prospective Bangsamoro area, then “the Bangsamoro government will not exercise exclusive control and supervision over these waters and utilities,” she pointed out.
No change in ownership
Ferrer emphasized that “there will be no change in the ownership and management of the Agus power plants even after the Bangsamoro government is installed.”
“Unless water levels reach rock bottom due to climate change, the blessings from the resource and the power utilities will continue to benefit Mindanao. When conditions become severe, naturally, the basic needs of the people in the locality will take precedence,” she said.
She stressed that “the best way we can address an energy crisis is by building more power plants using alternative energy resources like solar and wind power instead of unreasonably taking away the management of inland waters from the autonomous government and the local governments where they belong.”
“We need to take away the fear and distrust, we can coexist and realize the best potential of each other,” Ferrer said, adding “let us stop thinking of the Bangsamoro as our little brown brothers who need our paternal guidance.”