Anti-political dynasty provision may not fit in BBL—Zubiri

Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri. INQUIRER.net / CATHY MIRANDA

Putting an anti-political dynasty provision in the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) would be problematic for the entity because of the complex family structures among Moro people, Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri said Wednesday.

While batting support for a national policy against political dynasties, Zubiri, chair of the subcommittee on the BBL, said he would rather not put the provision in the draft BBL because of practice of intermarriage among Moro people and polygamy among Moro men.

“I want to be frank and honest and candid about it. If you put an anti-dynasty provision up to the second degree of consanguinity in the Bangsamoro area, three-fourths of the elected politicians will be disqualified,” Zubiri said during the Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum.

“It’s because our Bangsamoro people practice intermarriage. They marry cousins, marry families, tapos dagdagan mo pa na ating kapatid na Muslim [and add that to our Muslim brothers] they can marry four times,” he added.

The proposed law would surely be rejected in the referendum if it would contain such provision, the senator said.

What the lawmakers can do, Zubiri said, is to put a provision that would disallow family members of up to first or second degree of consanguinity from being elected among political parties to prevent “backdoor” nominations.

Fifty percent of the proposed 80-member Bangsamoro parliament is allotted to political parties.

“Ang gusto ko dito sa [What I suggest in this] party nominations, [families of] up to first degree or second degree of consanguinity, hindi kasama sa tatakbo sa [would not be included in the] direct elections, sa [in the] directly-elected parliament seats and local government seats,” Zubiri said, noting the possibility of families masquerading as political parties.

And because political clans are closely tied with warlordism, Zubiri explained that in the proposed BBL, it has provisions that would “make it very difficult for them to do any shenanigans with their funding.”

“It’s a chicken and egg scenario. The political clans utilize the resources of local government to be able to stay in power in terms of buying votes, buying arms, paying for their private armies, so we’re putting safety measures in terms of the release of their funds,” he said.

This includes the creation of the offices of a deputy Ombudsman and Commission on Audit Commissioner for the Bangsamoro.

These measures, Zubiri noted, could prevent the mistakes of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Zubiri said that the subcommittee is keen on passing the proposed measure on March 22, so the Senate could pass it on May and President Rodrigo Duterte could declare “peace” with the Moros during his State of the Nation Address in July. /jpv

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