Author: Nassef Manabilang Adiong

“The new Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) government is the opportunity for the Bangsamoro people to chart up their future in accordance with their distinct beliefs, culture, and aspirations, a shift from the struggle into fighting against oppression, corruption, discrimination, and other malpractices that are worsening the situation of the Bangsamoro people,” Policy Research and Legal Services (PRLS)

Director Nassef Manabilang Adiong phrased in an abstract submitted to the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute (formerly Institute of Southeast Asian Studies). Director Adiong presented the paper titled “The Bangsamoro Struggle Today” at an international conference held in Singapore on July 18-19, 2022.

The conference was anchored on the theme, “Trendsetters of Islam in Maritime Southeast Asia: Emerging Discourses and Trending Ideologues.“

It provided a platform for researchers to map out emerging ideas from countries like the Philippines and know how these ideas are acquired and transmitted, as well as examine identified transmitters of new trends, which include vital personalities, groups, or institutions to watch.
Also present at the two-day event were division heads Atty. Hisham Nazz Ala Biruar, Mr. Vincent Casil, and technical staff Kebart Licayan, and Musthafa Mazhar Ali.

This coming September, the research team is set to attend another international conference on Cohesive Societies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, where they were invited as delegates.

PRLS Director Nassef Manabilang Adiong and LMLAD Chief Atty. Hisham Nazz Biruar were invited as resource speakers during the workshop, “Information Dissemination and Awareness on the Parliamentary Governance in support of the implementation of the Bangsamoro Women Commission Communication and Advocacy Strategy”. They initiated discussions on how women can engage in the BARMM’s parliamentary process on Monday morning, September 26.

Said workshop was facilitated by the Bangsamoro Women Commission (BWC) in partnership with the Mindanao Organization for Social and Economic Progress, Inc. (MOSEP) and The Moropreneur Inc. (TMI). It was also supported by The Asia Foundation (TAF).

The PRLS and BWC believe that women’s political participation in the BARMM region shall be strengthened. They underlined that through “awareness and understanding of the parliament proceedings as women, access to information, and building of effective communication between CSOs and the Parliament,” finer policy drafts and frameworks to serve the needs of the Bangsamoro people better will be established

Because of the implication of the Mandanas-Garcia ruling, the National Government agencies are devolving some of their functions to the Local Government Units (LGUs). The Department of Budget and Management (DBM), however, has put forward that the Bangsamoro Government is not required to comply with the devolution transition program.

PRLS Policy Commentary 004, entitled “The Inevitable Transition: Mandanas Ruling Challenge to BARMM Ministries,” describes how the budget of the Bangsamoro Government will be affected, despite DBM’s stand on BARMM’s situation.

The paper points out that the Bangsamoro Government inevitably faces the budgetary constraints of the Mandanas-Garcia ruling and that devolution of its functions to its LGUs should be done immediately to ensure the delivery of affected programs. To realize such task, BARMM Ministries are in the strategic position to specify which programs are feasible to be devolved to BARMM LGUs.

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