First reading 14 September 2014 | ||
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Citation Bangsamoro Basic Law, Bill No. 4994 of 11 September 2014 (in English). Retrieved on 22 May 2016. Introduced by Feliciano Belmonte, Jr., et al. | ||
The Bangsamoro Basic Law, often referred to by the acronym " BBL" (Filipino: Batayang Batas para sa Rehiyong Awtonomo ng Bangsamoro), was a bill deliberated upon by the 16th Congress of the Philippines which, had it passed, would have established a proposed new autonomous political entity known as the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, replacing the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
Contents
- Parts of the proposed law
- Legislative process and replacement bills
- The Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro
- Annexes and Addendum
- The Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro
- The Mamasapano clash and public reaction
- References
As an organic act, the Basic Law would have provided for the basic structure of government for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, and enacted the agreements set forth in the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro, which is the peace agreement signed between the Government of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in 2014.
Parts of the proposed law
The various portions of the BBL as proposed by the Bangsamoro Transition Commission which had been assigned to draft the bill include sections covering:
Legislative process and replacement bills
The draft of the law was submitted by President Benigno Aquino III to Congress leaders on September 10, 2014.
An Ad Hoc committee assigned to the bill by Philippine House of Representatives passed its version of the bill, House Bill 5811, on May 20, 2015. The bill is now under interpellation in the house plenary.
In the Philippine Senate, a revised version of the BBL, known as the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region Law (Senate Bill 2894), was presented on August 11, 2015 after lengthy deliberations on the BBL in the Committee on Local Government, and was due for interpellation on August 17, 2015. Due to the length and complexity of the bill, however, the senate temporarily deferred the period of interpellation for the bill. The 16th Congress went on recess without passing the bill on February 2, 2016. The bill was shelved and will not be taken up by the 17th Congress of the Philippines. Instead the bill would be subsumed by the proposed federalism.
The Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro
On 15 October 2012, a preliminary peace agreement was signed in the Malacañan Palace between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Government of the Philippines. This was the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro, which called for the creation of an autonomous political entity named Bangsamoro, replacing the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
The signing came at the end of peace talks held in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia from 2–6 October. These talks were the last of 32 peace talks between the two parties, which spanned a period of nine years.
Annexes and Addendum
The Framework Agreement was later fleshed out by four Annexes and an addendum:
The Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro
On 27 March 2014, a final peace agreement fully fleshing out the terms of the framework agreement and annexes, known as the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro (CAB) was signed between the two parties. Under the agreement, the Islamic separatists would turn over their firearms to a third party, which would be selected by the rebels and the Philippine government. The MILF had agreed to decommission its armed wing, the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF). In return, the government would establish an autonomous Bangsamoro. Power sharing was a central point to the autonomy redesign.
The Mamasapano clash and public reaction
On Sunday, January 25, 2015, three platoons of the elite Special Action Force (SAF) under the Philippine National Police entered the guerrilla enclave of Tukanalipao, Mindanao, Philippines, with the goal of detaining two high-ranking Jemaah Islamiyah-affiliated, improvised-explosive-device experts, Zulkifli Abdhir (also known as Marwan) and Abdul Basit Usman. The SAF troops raided the hut where they believed Marwan was located, and the man they believed to be Marwan engaged them in a firefight and was killed. However, the shooting alerted armed forces in the area. What followed was a bloody encounter that left 44 SAF, 18 MILF, and 5 BIFF dead.
Supposedly as a result of the negative media coverage arising from the Mamasapano incident, the March 2015 survey conducted by public opinions polling group Pulse Asia found that 44% of Filipinos were opposed to the Bangsamoro Basic Law's passage, with only 22% supporting its passage. Opposition to the law was strongest among the poor (45% in Class D, 43% in Class E) and among those living in Mindanao (62%). Awareness of the law was high, at 88%.
With the collapse in popularity of the bill, House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. acknowledged the prospect that the bill may be rejected by Congress in the face of stiff public opposition, and hoped that the government would produce a "Plan B".