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Speakers
Randolph Parcasio
ARMM Consultant
Anwar Malang
Secretary, DILG-ARMM
Amina Rasul
President, Philippine Center for Islam and Democracy
Historical background
■History of the Moroland goes as far as the 16th century: During the peace negotiations conducted between Madrid and Washington to formally terminate the war and resolve colonial issues, Spain – contrary to earlier pronouncements – officially declared that Moroland, Basilan, Mindanao, Palawan, and the Sulu archipelago, was not part of her colony of the Philippines.
■A commercial treaty already existed between the U.S. and Sulu since 1842 which resulted to the Bates Treaty: Washington officially acknowledged that the Moros were not part of the Philippines and specifically guaranteed to respect the identity and the integrity of the Sulu Sultanate. In return, the sultan recognized U.S. sovereignty.
■The US’ abrogation of the Bates Treaty led to Moro-US War which lasted until 1913. In June 1913, Moro Province consists of all of the territory of the Philippines lying south of the eight parallel of latitude, excepting the island of Palawan and the eastern portion of the northwest peninsula of Mindanao, which includes current provinces/regions of Zamboanga, Lanao, Cotabato, Davao, and Sulu.
■DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE OF MINDANAO AND SULU: May 1, 1968, the provincial governor of Cotabato, Datu Udtog Matalam, made a dramatic move and issued the Mindanao Independence Movement (MIM) manifesto calling for the independence of Mindanao and Sulu to be known as the Republic of Mindanao and Sulu.
Evolution of granting of autonomy in Muslim Mindanao
■The Tripoli Agreement was signed in 1976 to establish the autonomous region for Southern Philippines and the provinces and cities comprising its territory and the transitional mechanism, the mandate of the provisional government and most important is the framework of autonomy.
■The establishment of two autonomous regions under the martial law by virtue of Presidential Decree (PD) No. 1618 and the MNLF rejection of this law.
■The creation of ARMM thru R.A. 6734 and again the rejection of this law by the MNLF. And the plebiscite ratifying ra 6734 shrunk the bangsamoro home land to four provinces namely: TAWI TAWI, SULU, LANAO DEL SUR AND MAGUINDANAO.
■The passage of the Final Peace Agreement in 1996 as the implementing mechanism to fully implement the 1976 tripoli agreement in accordance with the constitutional process and the establishment of Special Zone of Peace and Development SZOPAD and the establishment of Southern Philippines Council for Peace and Development (SPCPD)
■Passage of R.A 9054 or the amendment to the ARMM law
■The Tripartite Review between the MNLF and the Philippine Government to amend the “defective” provisions of RA 9054 to conform to the 1996 Final Peace Agreement. But this was left hanging with some unresolved issues and taken over by the MILF Track.
On control and supervision of minerals in the ARMM
■The ARMM has the power over control and supervision of the natural resources found within ARMM, the legal basis of which is granted under Art. 10, Section 20 of R.A. 9054. But there is an exception such as the control over strategic minerals such as uranium, petroleum and other fossil fuels, mineral oils, all sources of potential energy as well as national reserves and aquatic parks, forests and watershed reservations which are under the control of the national government.
■The ARMM Regional government prescribes the rules and regulations and imposes regulatory fees in connection with the issuances of leases, permits, franchises, licenses or concessions over mineral lands. (Sec. 8, Art. XII, RA 9054)
■On sharing of the revenues, taxes, or fees derived from the use and development of the strategic minerals between the Regional Government and the national government as well as the sharing of revenues of strategic minerals between the ARG-ARMM and LGU’s: Fifty Percent (50%) of the revenues, taxes, or fees derived from the use and development of the strategic minerals shall accrue and be remitted to the Regional Government and the other fifty percent shall accrue to the central government or national government.
■Unresolved issues between the MNLF and the Philippine Government, that is: i) the MNLF demands 70% of revenues on strategic minerals; and ii) the MNLF limits the definition of strategic minerals to uranium and imported minerals. Also, the Interim Agreement between the MNLF and Philippine Government on Strategic Minerals and between the MILF and the Philippine government under the Power Sharing Annex of the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro outline the roles of each party in the utilization/exploration of strategic minerals found within the ARMM and Bangsamoro.
Challenges in governance and their implications on autonomy
■LGU oversight agencies treated ARMM LGUs as if there is no autonomous region. LGUs in Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi are being supervised by DBM in region IX while Maguindanao and Lanao by DBM in Region 12.
■Nationally funded programs implemented by national government in ARMM also treated as if there is no autonomy.
■Program monitoring is costly due to non-proximity of the area.
■ARMM is fiscally dependent to the national government
■Lack of clarity in jurisdictional boundaries
■Atty. Anwar Malang suggested for a complete devolution of LGU oversight and regulatory agencies to empower the region to be fully responsible to governance affairs. He also suggested the empowerment of regional government to prioritize, allocate, utilize its available resources to the critical development programs in the region and provide clear partnership and coordination mechanism on the effective implementation of good governance policies by the national government and the regional government
■Ms. Amina Rasul talked about why “disgruntled” members of the MNLF broke away from the MNLF hierarchy due to ideological differences and leadership squabbles with Nur Misuari. In 1983, Hashim announced the separate presence of the MILF.
■The MILF, dominated by the Maguindanaons, is asserting Islamic ideology as distinct from the secular tendency of the MNLF. The MILF is currently the largest Muslim secessionist group in the country with membership conservatively estimated at 15,000-20,000. Its original objective was to secede from the Philippine Republic and transform Mindanao into an independent Islamic state.
■Progress of peace negotiations under different leadership of government from Ramos, Estrada, Arroyo and now with President Aquino: Under Pnoy, MILF has dropped their demand for independence but are seeking the establishment of a "sub-state" under the central government in Manila. "Their proposal is that they be considered Filipino citizens but with Bangsamoro national identity.” The details of the sub-state proposal have been presented to the government panel during their previous formal meetings held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
■On strengthening autonomy: She said that the provisions of the BBL should draw closely to the FAB provisions to carry the imprimatur of constitutionality.
■Problematic issues/provisions in the BBL particularly on Opt-in and Opt-out:
- House Bill No. 5811 (the House Ad-hoc Committee approved bill) states that petitions for inclusions may be done only on the 5th and 10th year following the enactment of the BBL.
- Both Senate and House signaled intent to completely remove it.
- There are proposal of opt-out provision for areas that do not want to be part , but advocates say that there should be no opt out provision in the BBL.