Duterte signs law giving greater autonomy to Philippines’ Muslim minority

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday signed a law that will pave the way for wider self-rule for the country’s Muslim minority and end the nearly half a century Moro insurgency. (Reuters)

• The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) will have greater fiscal autonomy, a regional government, parliament and justice system.
• Duterte announced that he had already signed the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) in a speech in Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay province in Mindanao.

MANILA: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday signed a law that will pave the way for wider self-rule for the country’s Muslim minority and end the nearly half a century Moro insurgency.
Duterte announced that he had already signed the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) in a speech in Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay province in Mindanao.
“The BOL has been signed, but I’m still going back because I have a ceremony with (Moro Islamic Liberation Front vice chairman for political affairs Ghadzali) Jaafar and (Moro Islamic Liberation Front chairman Ebrahim) Murad,” the president said.
Malacanang later released a statement confirming that the BOL, which establishes an autonomous political entity that will replace the 29-year old Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), was already signed into law.
The new political entity, Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), will have greater fiscal autonomy, a regional government, Parliament and justice system.
The enactment of the BOL into law was supposed to be the highlight of Duterte’s third State of the Nation Address (SONA) last Monday. The historic signing of the BOL, however, did not happen as it became “collateral damage” to leadership issues in the House of Representatives.
Nonetheless, Duterte, in his SONA speech, vowed to sign the BOL within 48 hours.
“I made the solemn commitment that this administration will never deny our Muslim brothers and sisters the basic legal tools to chart their own destiny within the constitutional framework of our country. When the approved version (of BOL) is transmitted and received by my office ... give me 48 hours to sign it,” the president said.
The Bicameral Conference Committee approved the BOL on Wednesday, July 18 — one year after the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) submitted its draft version to President Rodrigo Duterte.
Highlights of the BOL:
1. The panels agreed on 75-25 wealth-sharing in favor of Bangsamoro. This increases the share of the Bangsamoro in government tax revenues by 5 percent compared with the current 70 percent being received by the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) from national internal revenue taxes, fees and charges, as well as taxes imposed on natural resources.
2. The automatic allocation of the annual block grant for the Bangsamoro region has been adopted by the committee. This is equivalent to 5 percent of the net national internal revenue of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC).
3. The national government will allocate 5 billion pesos ($0.09 billion) to the Bangsamoro annually for 10 years. This is equivalent to 50 billion pesos for the entire implementation. The amount will be used for the rehabilitation of conflict-affected areas within the region.
4. Regular courts within the Bangsamoro will continue to exercise their judicial functions provided by national law.
While adopting a justice system that complies with the constitution, the Bangsamoro has been allowed to implement Shariah exclusively to cases involving Muslims. Tribal laws will be applicable to disputes of indigenous peoples within the Bangsamoro.
The BOL is part of the political track of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) — a peace deal that was signed between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in 2014.
It is seen to strengthen the current autonomy set-up for the Moros in Mindanao, giving them more control over their resources and political power over the new Bangsamoro region in Mindanao.
Moro Islamic Liberation Front chairman Ebrahim Murad earlier told Arab News that it considered the BOL 80 to 90 percent compliant to CAB, and expected the Moro people to support it in a plebiscite that would take place within 150 days of its signing by the president.
“We are thankful we have reached this stage after 17 years of peace negotiations with the government,” he said.
Once fully implemented, Murad said decommissioning of about 30,000 to 40,000 combatants will begin. This will be done in three phases.
Murad admitted that they have not yet accounted for all weapons, noting that there are three categories of weapons — those owned by the organization, those owned by combatants themselves, and those owned by civilians that the organization can use in case of war.