Next step: EO to create transition body

MANILA, Philippines – President Benigno Aquino III is expected to issue soon an executive order creating a transition commission that will craft a new law on the proposed Bangsamoro region.

Marvic Leonen, head of the government panel that reached a framework agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), told Rappler that the formation of a new semi-autonomous region, Bangsamoro, as agreed upon by both sides, will include areas in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) plus a few more areas that will vote to be part of it.

The transition commission shall be composed of 15 members, all Bangsamoro. The government will choose the commission’s 7 members while the MILF will handpick the 8, including the chairman.

Leonen explained: “The [commission] will be set up to write a draft of the Bangsamoro basic law that will be proposed to Congress, give it to the President for approval, then will be submitted to the people for ratification.”

A plebiscite will then determine the areas that will be part of the Bangsamoro region.

This will likely be held before 2016, according to Leonen.

“The process should be inclusive and democratic within that area,” he said, referring to the current core territories within the existing area covered by the ARMM, and possibly more.

Based on the 2012 framework agreement, the commission is also tasked to “work on proposals to amend the Philippine Constitution for the purpose of accommodating and entrenching in the constitution the agreements of the Parties whenever necessary without derogating from any prior peace agreements.”

Leonen stressed that the plebiscite is a key difference between the current efforts and the 2008 memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain (MOA-Ad) that the Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional for seeking to establish a state within another sovereign state.

“There is initial difference with MOA-Ad where there was no plebiscite. This one, there is plebiscite,” he explained.

International partners

On Sunday, October 7, Aquino announced that the government and the MILF had reached an agreement on a plan to end a separatist insurgency that started in the 1970s.

The signing of the framework agreement is scheduled for Monday, October 15 at Malacañang Palace.

The international community hailed the agreement.

The Philippines is “demonstrating new ways to address old wars,” Mindanews quoted Kristian Herbolzheimer as saying. Herbolzheimer is a member of the International Contact Group (ICG) that has supported both sides in their negotiations.

The ICG, organized through an agreement in 2009, is composed of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Japan, United Kingdom, and international non-government organizations Asia Foundation, Coalition Resources, and the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue.

The agremeent defined Bangsamoro. Leonen said: “Formerly Bangsamoro are those who belong to the 13 islamic ethno-linguistic groups, but in the framework agreement, it actually now says that the original inhabitants of the areas covered by the sultanates, regardless now of whether Islamicized or Christianized. Religion is now a controlling factor.
The agreement also says Bangsamoro as an identity, not the place or the region that will be created.”

This means, he added, that “it was because you were before a Moro and still want to be part of it. Or you self-ascribe, meaning to say, you tell everybody you belong to the [Bangsamoro region]… that is in the framework agreement.”

Leonen clarified that the “Bangsamoro does not create a new citizenship.” He stressed: “The MILF accepts that they are Filipino citizens.”

According to the former dean of the UP law schoo, Bangsamoro is already found in one Philippine law, Republic Act 9054. “Except that it is two words – bangsa and moro.”

Bangsamoro areas

Peace Process Presidential Adviser Teresita Deles told reporters Sunday that the plebiscite will be held in various areas.

“The same core territory as the current ARMM, plus a few areas contiguous to the area that had previously voted to be part of the autonomous region [will be included],” she said.

“These are 6 municipalities in the province of Lanao [del] Norte and barangays in 6 municipalities in North Cotabato that had voted previously in 2001 to be part of the autonomous region. But because the unit considered in the RA 9054 was the province, they could not be part of it because they were outnumbered by the rest of the province,” she said.

“We have also agreed that the cities of Cotabato and Isabela in Basilan will be asked or will be subjected to plebiscite,” she added.

Law creating Bangsamoro region

Deles also acknowledged that while a roadmap on how to proceed with the peace process has been forged, further details will be discussed.

The framework agreement and its annexes will be part of the crafting of the legislative measure creating the Bangsamoro region.

“The framework agreement is general principles and broad strokes. There will still be annexes that will have to be negotiated that will be part of the comprehensive final peace agreement. You will see in the framework agreement that the main track is the creation of the new political entity through legislation,” Deles said.

She added that they aim to complete the annexes before the end of the year, which will then be adopted to form the comprehensive settlement. She emphasized however, that while there are still details left to be ironed out, the framework agreement stands as a roadmap and the process will begin immediately.

“What we are confident of is that we have an agreement that we can implement. We have an agreement that is a roadmap that is reasonable,” she said. – Rappler.com

Read the full text of President Noynoy Aquino’s speech: Agreement paves way for enduring peace in Mindanao

Read the full text of the Framework Agreement between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on the establishment of the new autonomous political entity, Bangsamoro, that will replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). –rappler.com