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| Dr. Marjanie S.M. Macasalong, Member of the Parliament (MP), BARMM and Executive Director, Office of the Bangsamoro Youth Affairs (OBYA). |
By Jun Enriquez
Iligan City – A phone interview with Dr. Marjanie S.M. Macasalong, Member of the Parliament (MP) of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region
in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), and Executive Director of the Office of the Bangsamoro
Youth Affairs (OBYA), BARMM, has provided some information regarding the
current situation of the Ministerial Government of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region
in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) based in Cotabato City.
BARMM is the product of the Bangsamoro struggle for five
decades asserting the right to self-determination. A Comprehensive Agreement on
the Bangsamoro (CAB) was signed in 2014 by the Government of the Philippines
(GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), following the enactment of
the Bangsamoro Organic law (BOL) in 2018, and held a Plebiscite in 2019 to
officially mandates the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM)
replacing the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
The BARMM Ministerial government is Parliamentary form
within the unitary system. Its function is to Legislate law and implement the
same. Therefore, the Legislative and executive powers are vested in the BARMM Parliament,
which has a total of 80 members but only 78 was presently serving while the
remaining two seats will be appointed soon both coming from the Government and Moro
Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) sides. The BARMM Parliament is headed by a
Chief Minister currently came from Maguindanao with two Deputy Ministers from
Lanao and Island provinces to balance the power.
There has a Speaker of the house at his discretion will appoint any members of the Parliament to preside
the session. Sometimes the deputy speaker will preside the session at the
discretion of the Speaker. The Parliament has a Majority floor leader who
controls the session, also with Deputy majority floor leader, Minority floor
leader and Deputy minority floor leader.
There were 15 Committees in the Parliament but presently
the most active committees in the Parliament are the Committee on rules and Committee
on finance. The BARMM Parliament have just recently passed the fiscal budget amounted
to PhP 68 billion in November 28, 2019 based on the certificate issued by the Bureau
of Customs (BOC) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). Macasalong said it
was the first time they enacted a budget for the BARMM, as a product of the Assertion
of self-governance of the Bangsamoro struggle. They also enact resolutions for
the creation of the Logo, Flag, Hymn to sing one after the other, first the Philippine
National Anthem.
They also enact resolutions to help the internally
displaced persons (IDPs) of Marawi City as a result of the siege. The
Parliament created a special committee for Marawi to extend appropriate intervention
to complement with the national government assistance program.
A Plebiscite was conducted on 2019 after the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) was approved in 2018. There were 63 barangays in North Cotabato
voted to be included in the BARMM out of the total 68 barangays but five barangays
did not make it in the plebiscite. Originally there were 39 barangays who are part
of the core territory that voted in the plebiscite in 2001 for ARMM expansion, and
others have petitioned to vote for the plebiscite.
On the other hand, Cotabato City won in the plebiscite but
the Local government questioned the result of the plebiscite to the Supreme Court.
In Lanao del Norte, there were nine municipalities voted in favor of the six
municipalities to be included in the BARMM but 11 municipalities voted no to the inclusion.
Based on the double majority rule, first, the six municipalities must win in
its respective municipality and second, must win in the whole province. In
general, the six municipalities of Lanao del Norte did not make it to be
included in the BARMM.
However, there is an ongoing study to reconsider the six
municipalities of Lanao del Norte to be included on peace and development
program of the BARMM to serve the Bangsamoro people in these areas administratively
without prejudice to the provincial government of Lanao del Norte. This will
also include other areas outside the BARMM.
The most challenging situation of the BARMM government is
the ability to govern effectively because most of the members of the Parliament
are coming from revolutionaries with no experience on governance.
Dr. Macasalong cited on the purchase of goods of an
office table one day and told his staff to do so. On the following day he asked
where was the table. His staff replied that the item still on process for a
bidding and it will take for a few days to be purchased. Macasalong said in the
MILF purchases there was no bidding process applied, it will only depend on the
availability of funds. In the revolution movement, trust is the only guarantee.
They did not even ask receipts during the purchases. In BARMM governance, they will liquidate the funds used with
supporting receipts and other necessary documents.
Dr. Macasalong said the expectations of the Bangsamoro
people in the BARMM is very high. It was promised during the campaign for the plebiscite,
that by abolishing the Autonomous region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) life will become
progressive and will have strong BARMM government, that’s why he said the Bangsamoro
people voted yes in the Plebiscite, and now they are looking on those promises. Macasalong said due to a new BARMM government it’s not easy to deliver the basic
services to the people outright as promised, because Members of the Parliament are
still on the learning process in governance and it was first time to enact a
budget in order to fulfill the promises. This matter was explained to the Bangsamoro
people in order for them to understand the situation.
Dr. Macasalong said the relationship with the National
government is also an important challenge to let the BARMM government moves
freely, and the autonomy for the Bangsamoro people will be continuously exercised
differently from the Local government, because it was mandated by the
Bangsamoro people through a plebiscite. The relationship of the BARMM through
the Chief Minister with the national government is directly connected to the President
of the Republic of the Philippines.
Dr. Macasalong expressed concern that there was no
corruption happened in the BARMM government and the same will not happened in
the future, as prime commitment of Chief Minister Murad. The best opportunity
for the BARMM Parliament is to run the Bangsamoro government effectively free
from corruption and moral governance, said Macasalong.
Another opportunity is the strong commitment of the BARMM
Parliament to govern the Bangsamoro people. He quoted the Chief Minister Murad said
not to waste the time and resources because this is the right timing of the assertion
for 50 years struggled revolution fighting for the right of the Bangsamoro to
self-determination. Macasalong said that MILF chairman and BARMM Chief Minister
Murad emotionally expressed his thanks to the members of the Parliament in
passing the fiscal budget for 2020. Macasalong is very confident of the sincerity
and commitment of the Chief Minister and Cabinet Ministers on good governance.
Dr. Macasalong
said they are working more than 12 hours a day. Most of them are in the office
before 8:00 A.M. and will out at almost 10:00 P.M. before the curfew strikes. Macasalong
said they did not even asked overtime pays, honorariums and travel allowances.
Accordingly, the Block grant of Php 68 billion is based
on the actual needs will be managed by the BARMM Parliament intended for the rehabilitation,
education and livelihoods for the Bangsamoro on transparent and accountable
governance for peace and development of the Bangsamoro.
The exploration of natural resources in the Bangsamoro
area will be the next focus of the BARMM government to create investment and
employment. Macasalong said it is sad to say that plenty of the employees were
dislocated in abolishing the ARMM, was part of the reform and currently
studying the situation with the opportunity for rehiring them but has a process
to follow. Macasalong said that there were 30,000 employees more or less in the
previous ARMM government but some were retained concerning the Ministries of
education, Health and Social services. An estimated of 20,000 employees more or
less to be reintegrated to other ministries based on their performance and
records of employment in previous administration, strictly considering the cases
of corruption is one of the serious criteria. Those who will be terminated will
receive their separation pay.
Dr. Macasalong is the head of the Bangsamoro youth commission
aimed to strengthen the rule of the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) and the youth to
perform activities countering violent extremism. Macasalong said the BARMM
government will continue the reform and policy change for peace and development
to uplift the lives of the Bangsamoro people. Macasalong said information dissemination
about the BARMM affairs is very important to educate the Bangsamoro and
non-Bangsamoro people within and outside the BARMM area.
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