I FULLY agree with Sen. Mariam Defensor-Santiago that changing the name of the Bangsamoro basic law (BBL) does not make it constitutional.
“It’s teeming with constitutional infirmities,” the senator said, adding that “changing its name would not make it less objectionable. It’s the same dog with different collar.”
Santiago, Senate Committee on Constitutional Amendments chairman, reacted on Thursday, after the proposed BBL has been renamed as the Basic Law of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (BLBAR), which aims to abolish the constitutionally mandated Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), create a sub-state, parliamentary in form, that would be coequal with the national government and in clear violation of the Constitution.
“It goes without saying that two different constitutional instruments cannot have legal effect at the same time and in the same territory,” she told the media. Considered one of the foremost constitutional experts in the Senate, Santiago articulated that the new version had provisions that can only be approved with a constitutional amendment.
“The proposed BBL must be consistent with the provisions of the Constitution of the Philippines. Not the other way around,” she said.
Santiago warned that “doing so, revising the Constitution instead of amending the proposed law, would be constitutional impiety.”
She said: “The Committee on Constitutional Amendments appreciates the brilliant efforts of the hardworking men and women who put the BBL together. However, in its present state, the BBL raises many insidious doubts on constitutionality.”
“Among the objectionable provisions that the House ad hoc committee introduced were issues on sovereignty, autonomy and territorial integrity,” the lawmaker said
According to her, another contentious issue, which members of the House Minority raised, was the “opt-in” provision, which allows areas outside the core Bangsamoro territory to join the region if 10 percent of their constituents petition for it and if approved by a majority in a plebiscite.
The House ad-hoc document is one of three committee reports that will form the Senate’s position on the BBL issue. The two others will come from the Committee on Local Government and the Committee on Peace, Unification and Reconciliation.
Santiago expressed serious doubts that, if approved, the proposed law will create a lasting peace in Mindanao, considering that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is not the only secessionist group operating in the country. Others include the Moro National Liberation Front, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, Abu Sayyaf, Mindanao Islamic Command and the Justice for Islamic Movement.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Council of Management (Philcoman), a nonprofit federation of technological societies, academic institutions, business enterprises and professional managers, lauded Santiago’s unwavering stand.
Philcoman said the proposed BBL is an exercise in futility, given that the MILF does not:
1) Renounce terrorism and other acts of violence;
2) Surrender its armaments;
3) Pledge allegiance to the Philippine Constitution;
4) Shed off its belligerency; and
5) Refrain from seeking intervention from foreign powers.
The Philcoman “wondered if the nation can tolerate more victims at the jihadist hands of the MILF— the same killing machine liable for the massacre of 44 elite police officers in Mamasapano and the beheading of Philippine Marines and Army soldiers in Basilan’s Al Barka; the dastardly attack on Siocon and Kauswagan, where scores of innocent civilians were sacrificed to the will of the jinns; and the bombings of the Davao Airport and the Sasa Port in Davao City, among others.
Philcoman board of directors reitrated its stand that the solution to the Mindanao problem is not the passage of the BBL or whatever you call it, but to strenghten the existing constitutionally ordained ARMM and to strictly enforce the gun ban and prosecute violators.
“Unless the government removes the guns from terrorists and criminal elements, there is no way you can achieve peace in Mindanao,” the Philcoman said.
“Right now, the government is negotiating with the MILF at the point of its guns, and is often threatened with war and terrorism if the BBL is not approved in its entirety,” the Philcoman said.
“For many years now, the MILF has been expanding its territories in Mindanao because the government failed to realize early on that a negotiating table and the cease-fire agreement with the MILF is just an extension of its battlefield as events have shown,” the Philcoman restated its earlier statement.
“We can only hope that those who voted for the passage of the ad-hoc committee-proposed bill can live with their conscience,” the Philcoman said.
To reach the writer, e-mail cecilio. arillo@gmail.com.