links: http://www.luwaran.com/index.php/welcome/item/917-bangsamoro-autonomy-is-alternative-to-independence-war-peace-council
Bangsamoro autonomy is alternative to independence, war: Peace Council
- Thursday, Apr 30 2015
The grant of Bangsamoro Autonomous Region through the Bangsamoro
Basic Law is “alternative to independence or war,” Malacañang-convened
Citizens Peace Council said in its BBL review report which was submitted
to the House of Representatives on Monday.
The Council was composed of Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal
Tagle, former Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr., Jaime Augusto Zobel de
Ayala, Howard Dee and Muslim Princess Bai Rohaniza Sumndad-Usman.The report related that, “A total of 136 participants joined the discussions in one or more of the clusters reflecting these themes and separately discussed the BBL from 8-17 April before convening for the National Peace Summit on 18 April 2015.”
“When reading the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law, it is therefore presumed that all Constitutional powers of government and the Constitutional Commissions and bodies remain intact, regardless of whether the law explicitly provides for it or not,” the report said.
“There is no creation of a separate kind of citizen, and no creation, virtual or otherwise, of a political territory that is greater than the national government that creates it, or beyond the reach of the Constitution that allows it.”
“The grant of regional autonomy is an alternative to independence or secession. But more than that, the establishment of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region through the BBL must be seen as an alternative to war.”
“Legislation, therefore, in this context, should be seen as a peace-building exercise. Legislators are not only policy formulators, they become peace-builders,” underscored in the Peace Council’s finding.
It was further pointed out, “Autonomy and self-governance is not equivalent to independence or statehood,” but rather, “an acknowledgement of human diversity and recognition that, despite decades of trying, the different cultures had not been served in any effective way by the national government.”
“A law creating an Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao, therefore, cannot be expected to reiterate the same powers or structures as our traditional political subdivisions,” the report stated.
And thus, “To expect an Autonomous Region to behave like a province or city defeats the purpose of autonomy. Similarly, to treat the Autonomous Regions like other local government
units defeats the purpose of autonomy.”
To clarify the issue on secession, the Council rundown its explanation as follows:
The BBL does not make the Bangsamoro Government a state. The provisions on “people,” “territory,” and “self-determination” do not imply the creation of a separate state, but are consistent with the constitutionally mandated creation of autonomous regions.
Though the Bangsamoro will have a territory, people and its own government, much like any other local government unit in the Philippines, it remains part of the republic as the BBL clearly declares.
An area with its own defined territory, jurisdiction, or rules does not make that territory independent from its parent state. Both the Constitution and the Local Government Code refers to the areas of local government units as “territories”.
The inclusion of a definition of ‘Bangsamoro People’ in the BBL is only an affirmation of identity, not a definition of citizenship. The right of self-determination is a right of all peoples and is not equivalent to the right to statehood.
Self-determination is therefore generally understood to mean what our own Supreme
Court has described as “internal” self-determination.
President Aquino called for the creation of the peace council to study the BBL and help the public understand the proposed legislation that will pave way for the establishment of Bangsamoro autonomous region vested with more fiscal powers and stronger internal governance.
MILF Website
Article links:
BANGSAMORO FRAMEFORK
OTHER HUMAN RIGHTS PROMOTIONS WEBSITES
PROTECTION AND PROMOTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
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