United We Stand, Divided we Fall

“And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand”

- Mark 3:25

Many people are wondering what the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) is all about. Some believed that this law will establish a completely autonomous Bangsamoro Region in Mindanao but still under the wing of the Philippine Government. Other posits that it is nonetheless establishing a distinct country within a country – an independent Bangsamoro Region not under the Philippine Government’s control.

To answer this confusion, let us look into the details of the law itself.

The Bangsamoro region, which is the current Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao covers various provinces in Western Mindanao that has long been tortured with the conflict between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Philippine Government. Under Article III, of the BBL, the Bangsamoro territory which will be finally determined through a plebiscite, will still remain part of the Philippines.

Section 1, Article II of the same draft law provides that the Bangsamoros are those who at the time of conquest and colonization were considered natives or original inhabitants of Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago and its adjacent islands including Palawan, and their spouses, and descendants.

Likewise, the draft Basic Law provides that the Bangsamoro shall respect and adhere to the Philippines’ international treaties and agreements.  Thus, whatever power the Bangsamoro may exercise over its territory must be consistent with and not contravene the country’s international obligations and commitments. (Article IV, Section 8).

Also, the draft Basic Law provides that the Bangsamoro Government will have a parliamentary form of government wherin the executive is formed by the legislature, i.e. the Chief Executive (who is the head of the executive branch of the government) is elected by the legislature.

In contrast, a democratic form of government derives its legitimacy from the people in which eligible citizens participate, directly or indirectly, in the election of their representatives in government (i.e., the people elect the Chief Executive of the President of the Government).

According to the framers of the draft Basic Law, the Bangsamoro Government is still democratic because all members of Parliament will be elected as representatives of the Bangsamoro People. Consistent with the 1987 Philippine Constitution, both the executive and the legislative in a parliamentary system shall be elective and representative of their constituent political units (Article VII). 

However, it is worthy to note that Article 1, Section 3 of the said law provides that the purpose of the draft Basic Law is to establish the new Bangsamoro political entity and provide for its basic structure of government, in recognition of the aspirations of the Bangsamoro people.

In light of the foregoing, it appears that the BBL aimed at slicing a sovereign region within the Philippine territory. Basing from history, this type of government set-up is very alarming considering that this might be a prelude to an uprising or worst-case scenario a civil war, as experienced by other autonomous region in Ukraine, South Sudan, Israel-Palestine, etc. We are not sure whether the framers have studied the historical antecedence of this type of structure, one thing is for sure, this BBL will either help or destroy Philippine security and sovereignty.