Bangsamoro pledges support to Cordillera autonomy thrust

The Cordillera’s quest for regional autonomy was backed by officials of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao.

      In a forum on fiscal autonomy of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) on Sept. 25 in Cotabato City,

BTA members of the Parliament lawyer Jose Lorena and engineer Baintan Adil-Ampatuan responded positively to the Cordillera Regional Development Council’s request for support and committed to author a BTA resolution supporting the establishment of an autonomous region in theCordillera.

“We always join the Cordillerans as they have joined us in our quest for meaningful autonomy,” Lorena said in his opening speech when he discussed the milestones of the Bangsamoro region from the 1976 Tripoli Agreement to its development to the now BARMM.
Lorena, who chairs the committee on administrative code Interim Parliament of the BTA, also shared strategies towards the passing of the Bangsamoro Organic Law, such as political mapping, having champions in Congress and Senate, and developing constituency from the ground to include the youth, among others.

Meanwhile, Adil-Ampatuan, who served as resource speaker, expressed her willingness to provide assistance to the Cordillera.
Presidential Legislative and Liaison Office (PLLO) Assistant Secretary Orville Ballitoc and Institute for Autonomy and Governance (IAG) executive director lawyer Benedicto Bacani who earlier pledged their assistance in advancing the bid for Cordillera autonomy were also present in the forum.

Lorena said that both IAG and the PLLO played a big role in advancing the Bangsamoro Organic Law.
Article 10 of the 1987 Constitution provides creation of autonomous regions in Muslim Mindanao and Cordillera.

The Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao was created in 1989 with the ratification of RA 6734. Republic Act 9054 amended RA 6734 and expanded the territory and power of the ARMM.

On Jan. 21, the Bangsamoro Organic Law created the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao with Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur including Marawi City, Basilan including Lamitan City, Tawi-tawi, Sulu and Cotabato City comprising the BARMM. The BTA with 80 parliament members appointed by the President serves as the interim government from 2019 to 2022 until the new sets of officers will be elected on May 9, 2022.  

Members of the Cordillera Regional Development Council Executive Committee, together with Presidential Legislative Liaison Office Assistant Secretary Orville, discussed with executives of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) last Sept. 24-25 in Cotabato City to understand the design and issue of fiscal autonomy in an autonomous regional government.
Key discussions on fiscal autonomy focused on the importance of ensuring the regularity and automatic release of the block grant to the regional government.

According to BARMM Acting Executive Secretary Abdullah Cusain, the current Bangsamoro government is still operating with the budget, programs and projects of the old ARMM. “The exercise of the fiscal autonomy in BARMM will be tested once the block grant will be in place in 2020,” Cusain said.

Also, the Bangsamoro Organic Law authorizes the regional government to pass its own appropriations law, sparing the officials from defending their budgets in Congress. The current budgeting process of the BTA, however, surfaces the need to establish a clear budgeting process even before the transition to an autonomous region. Minister of Finance, Budget and Management and Member of the Parliament Eduard Guerra recognized the challenge noting that, “this is the first time to formulate a regional budget proposal under the BARMM; we do not have budget ceiling yet but the overall budget is anchored on the block grant”. He said that the Department of Budget and Management is providing technical assistance in the conduct of the budget hearing.

Other insights from the BOL include expanded taxing power of BARMM to cover capital tax gains, documentary stamp tax, donor’s tax, and real estate tax.
Meanwhile, Member of the Parliament Baintan Adil-Ampatuan cited  lessons in the ARMM that are now strengths in the BARMM. “ARMM is a sad story of devolution.

The structures were skeletal, it had no program funds and many functions were retained by the national government,” Adil-Ampatuan said.

Observations from the discussions with the BARMM executives will serve as input to the fiscal viability study that will be completed within the year.