Finally got a copy of Republic Act (RA) 11054 today (Thursday)—the Organic Law for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, or the OLBARMM (an acronym which, unfortunately, lacks the elegant simplicity of BOL). It is a massive document, going all the way up to Article XVIII, and covering a total of 109 Official Gazette pages.
And within those pages lies the blueprint for a Bangsamoro autonomous region that addresses the grievances, sentiments and demands of Muslims in the region. Whether the new autonomous region will be superior to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which it abolished, remains to be seen. But the sheer volume of time, effort, and commitment that went into the crafting of the OLBARMM speaks well of its chances. It isn’t spin when you hear government officials hailing RA 11054 as a landmark piece of legislation—it truly is a momentous accomplishment.
With the law now in the books and the publication requirement very nearly (as of this writing anyway) completed, the Commission on Elections is gearing up to hold the plebiscite to ratify the OLBARMM, which could be held as early as late December 2018 or January 2019.
To arrive at that estimate, we need to look at two provisions of the OLBARMM: Article XV, Section 2—which states that the plebiscite shall be conducted not earlier than 90 or not later than a 150 days after the law’s effectivity; and Article XVIII, Section 5—which declares that the law will come into effect “fifteen days following its complete publication in the Official Gazette and in at least two national newspapers of general circulation and one local newspaper of general circulation in the autonomous region.”
As of this writing, the OLBARMM has definitely been published in the Gazette, but not yet in the other newspapers, so that has yet to be accomplished. Once that’s done, there will be a wait of 15 days before the Comelec can start counting out the 90- to 150-day period mentioned in Article XV, Section 2.
Following that prescription, the Comelec can hold the plebiscite once the minimum period of 90 days is reached. However, this is unlikely, given everything that needs to be accomplished beforehand—the promulgation of the rules of conduct for the plebiscite, special voter registration, and the all-important information/education campaigns, among other things. Instead, the most logical thing to do would be to take advantage of the breathing space, if you will, given by the OLBARMM; doing that gives us the estimate of a Bangsamoro plebiscite by the end of this year or very early next year.
Which is a good thing because the OLBARMM is serious business. First off, the OLBARMM will potentially result in Lanao del Norte and Cotabato losing jurisdiction of six municipalities and 39 barangays, respectively. Those areas did previously vote to be included in the ARMM, but their mother units thumbed the notion down; now, those municipalities and barangays get to try again.
Second, the OLBARMM won’t just affect the Bangsamoro peoples—defined by the law as those who, at the advent of Spanish colonization, were considered natives or original inhabitants of Mindanao, the Sulu archipelago and the adjacent islands—but every Filipino, as well. OLBARMM mandates that 75 percent of the taxes, fees and charges collected by the national government in the Bangsamoro would go to the Bangsamoro, with the national government retaining only 25 percent. Under the ARMM law, this split was 70-30.
And third, on top of this, the Bangsamoro also gets an annual block grant of 5 percent of the national internal revenue—almost P60 billion—as an automatic appropriation, no questions asked.
The OLBARMM provides for a lot more innovations than just wealth-sharing arrangements between the Bangsamoro and the national government—innovations that will inevitably have an impact on the rest of the country. Needless to say, any vote on a document that will have such wide-ranging consequences must be thoroughly studied, not only by those who will identify as Bangsamoro, but by everyone who believes himself to be a Filipino.