Give BBL provision a chance : advocate

By Cheneen R. Capon
THE provision that will allow the participation of contiguous municipalities and provinces in the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) should be given a chance, a Mindanao peace advocate said.
“I think this provision should be given a chance, “Mindanao CSO Platform for Peace secretariat Jun Aparece said. “Anyway, people will petition to be included if they see that the Bangsamoro government will succeed in ending the problem in attaining lasting peace.”
Aparece said that approving this provision will give Mindanawons, who are resident in areas outside the core territory, the option to be part of the entity that will abolished and replaced the current Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM)
“Lawmakers should listen to Mindanawons,” Aparece said.
Ad hoc committee chair Cagayan de Oro Rufus Rodriguez had earlier said that the provision expanding the proposed core territory of the Bangsamoro area will be one of the provisions that will be removed.
Rodriguez was referring to paragraph d of section 2 of Atricle III of House Bill 4994 that said: “All contiguous areas where there is resolution of the local government unit or a petition of at least 10 percent of the registered voters in the area asking to be included at least two months prior to the conduct of the ratification of BBL and the process of delimitation of the Bangsamoro.”
Government peace negotiating legal team member lawyer Mohammad Al-Amin Julkipli said this provision was included in the proposed law because it is meant to solve the problem on self-determination.
“We really want their wide understanding on the deliberation of the bill so that they will be able to see that those provisions are meant to solve problems in the area,” Jukipli said.
If the provision is taken and scrapped, “I’m afraid that the problem may still persist.”
Jukilpi said provisions of the proposed BBL were guided by laws  and were constitutional in nature but it is still up to the collective wisdom of lawmakers whether to approved provisions of the house bill.
“It’s really our hope that this provision along with the others, have a good fighting chance. We are trying our best to give arguments and necessary data they (lawmakers) need to convince them and inspire them to think the allowability and constitutionality of the provision/s,” the lawyer said.
Julkipli said that it is not true that Bangsamoro Police will not be under the Philippine National Police.
“It is clear in the provisions in the BBL that the bangsamoro police will be under the National Police Commision,” he said.
He alao clarified that Bangsamoro will have its auditing agency that will still work closely with the Commission on Audit.
“The reality  now is that COA cannot reached the farthest island of ARMM and if there will be a auditing agency working hand in hand in the proposed Bangsamoro, this will prmote more transparency,” Jukipli said.
Davao Peace Movement for BBL convenor Rasad Sawat, meanwhile, said it’s time to have a thorough review on the proposed BBL because lawmakers are pushing for the amendment of almost 80 percent of the provisions.
Among the provisions that need to be reviewed aside from allowing nonmember of the proposed core territory is the establishment of Bangsamoro police, power and wealth sharing between the central and proposed Bangsamoro government.