DAVAO CITY – The series of armed attacks mounted this year by a breakaway Moro armed group should not deter the Bangsamoro autonomous government from pursuing its gains in the peace settlement, according to one of the lead groups seeking an extension of the transition government in Moro areas.
Rather, this outbreak of violence in Maguindanao should awaken government and other sectors to encourage the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao to continue constructing the legal and social frameworks of the autonomous government, the group said.
“It is precisely in times like this when extremist groups undermine the gains of the peace process that we will have to close ranks, rally behind the BARMM and protect the gains of the peace process,” lawyer Mary Ann Arnado, secretary general of the Mindanao People’s Caucus, told a Senate hearing on the BARMM on Friday.
“Mindanao deserves much more than the barest minimum for peace. There is need to extend the transition period so that the Bangsamoro will be able to implement the strategic institutional reforms to achieve inclusive peace and development,” she said.
And the best way for President Duterte to leave a lasting legacy for peace in Mindanao, she said, is for him to certify the extension bill as urgent in Congress.
“All these cannot happen overnight. Three years is not enough,” she added.
The BARMM was given to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) as part of the peace settlement and the latter was granted three years as transition period to put in place the necessary legal framework for a working Bangsamoro government.
The territory would cover the mainland provinces of Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur in Central Mindanao, and the southwestern island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, all of which were the former territories of the defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (A RMM). Isabela City of Basilan, Cotabato City and some barangays in North Cotabato were later added to the BARMM after a plebiscite in January 2019.
The MILF had earlier urged government to reconsider the three years as transition, arguing that autonomous regions elsewhere in the world were able to accomplish the requirements only after 10 years or more.
Arnado told the committee headed by Sen. Francis Tolentino that in three years, the autonomous government was able to have the “smooth transition of powers from ARMM to the Bangsamoro Transition Authority, creation of highly functioning Parliament and Cabinet, hiring of professionals in the bureaucracy, simultaneous legislative work for the enactment of seven priority codes, entrenching of overarching importance of moral governance, and partnership between the Barmm and the national government”.
Of the seven codes, the BARMM was able to pass only two and it said more time was needed after the end of the transition next year. The Administrative and Civil Service Codes have been approved by the Bangsamoro Parliament, while the Education Code is expected to be discussed and approved next week during the parliament’s special session.
She said civil society organizations moved to support the BARMM call for extension after it conducted a midterm review of the MPC plans when 34 focused group discussions in the third quarter last year sought an extension of the transition period.
“Extending the transition will not only give us the minimum for peace, but will actually leave a lasting legacy for peace that will not only benefit all of us, but also the next generation to come,” she said.
Secretary Carlito G. Galvez Jr., the Presidential adviser on the peace process, said in an online post that “the BARMM government’s extension will provide a greater sense of stability and security in the Bangsamoro and enable us to sustain the gains of peace in the region”.
“We, therefore, need to give the BARMM government more time to lay the foundation of an inclusive, people-centered and accountable bureaucracy,” he said.