A Bangsamoro Transition Commissioner said that the three-year transition period provided by the ratified Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) is definitely a challenge on the part of the government.
“We cannot have a transition within three years. That is the weak point of the law,” said Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) member Mussolini Sinsuat Lidasan.
“For three years, how can you manage expectations?” he added.
Lidasan said that the transition period is very crucial, considering the law is being eyed as a step towards peace and development in Mindanao.
He said that the given timeframe will take a lot of time and effort, as there is a need to craft different codes such as the administrative code that would help address the transition from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) to Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). He said that 34,000 government employees will be affected in this transition.
“We also need to have a parliamentary code, to address the parliamentary system of the government. Also, there’s the local taxation code, education framework, and of course, a good governance code,” Lidasan said.
He also said that the normalization process is also a huge challenge for the BTC.
Normalization, as stated under the Comprehensive Agreements of the Bangsamoro (CAB), is the process whereby communities can achieve their desired quality of life, including pursuit of sustainable livelihood and political participation within a peaceful deliberative society.
“Planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating peace building activities in the aftermath of the challenge is one the emerging challenges right now,” Lidasan said.
The BTC commissioner is one of the speakers during the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) forum on Wednesday, at the SM Lanang Foodcourt in Davao City.
Lidasan stated his recommendations for a successful BOL implementation. One of them is for the government to appoint qualified and effective members of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA), a body that will facilitate in the transition towards BARMM.
The BTA will have 41 members from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and 39 from the national government.
“It cannot be business as usual, many lives are at stake,” he said.
“We need to establish a timely and appropriate political instruments and institutions to address historical conflicts, especially in land and natural resources,” Lidasan said.
Lastly, he said that the BTA should prepare for a clean and honest election in 2022, wherein residents under the BARMM will elect its first batch of officials under a new set of government.
