BARMM Parliament approves PhP 68 billion fiscal budget 2020

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.