Author: Nassef Manabilang Adiong

Last January 19, 2022, in celebration of the 3^rd founding anniversary of the Bangsamoro government, the Ministry of Interior and Local Government (MILG) in partnership with Policy Research and Legal Services (PLRS), regional local government units (LGUs) regional authorities, and development partners conducted a talk titled: “Ugnay Talakayan: Moral Governance on BARMM’s Fiscal and Local autonomy.” The talk invited the PRLS division heads as expert speakers to tackle the current discourse on LGUs.

On Moral Governance, Dr. Nassef M. Adiong, Director of PRLS, stresses the importance of creating the BARMM’s concept of leadership since our national heroes were greatly influenced by the Western and European concepts of leadership that were adopted by our country. Creating our own Canon of education specifically on the Bangsamoro knowledge production is also vital, being inspired by the first Muslim thinkers during the golden civilization of Islam. He calls for the inclusion of all types of leadership as mandated by Prophet Muhammad’s Charter of Madina—the first documented constitution in the world. Lastly, he highlights the five principles of moral governance which are Faith, Freedom, Moral authority, Common good, and Social Ethics, concerning community, justice, peace, and equality.

On the other hand, Atty. Sha Elijah B. Dumama-Alba, Attorney General of the Attorney general’s office, Office of the Chief Minister, highlights the main objective of Intergovernmental Relations (IGR) i.e. “To designate an important body of activities or interactions occurring between governmental units of all types and levels within the government.” It establishes Processes and Institutions through which the national government (NG) and local government units (LGUs) interact, specifically it settles the relationship between the NG and Bangsamoro Government. Atty. Sha highlights that while it has some given challenges, e.g., the lack of appreciation and awareness of the critical role of IGR, IGR promises inclusive decision making and develops unity in diversity. She further concluded that successful IGR needs strong political will, optimizes formal and informal IGR, empowerment of different social actors, and monitoring of implementation, among others.

As for the current trend on LGUs, Mr. Vincent L. Casil, PRLS’ Legislative and Research Division (LRD) Chief, tackled the effect of Mandanas-Garcia rulings and their implementation to admin regions. As the LGUs budget increases, Mr. Casil noted that devolution of services from the national government to LGUs requires the establishment of accountability and transparency in small units. He explored some of the coupled problems of LGUs devolution of functions, highlighting the lack of clarity in terms of its implementation. Lastly, while the ruling has its positive sides, (e.g. the long effect of its implementation), Mr. Casil concluded by citing “while we need to be an optimist about devolution of LGUs powers and functions, we should also be realistic on what is happening on the ground.”

Finally, Atty. Hisham Naz Ala Biruar, The PRLS Legislative Measures and Legal Assistance Division (LMLAD) Division chief has discussed the Mandanas-Garcia rulings and its inference to BARMM. Atty Hisham has explored the question that arises on the LGUs current trend “What really is the just share of LGUs in the National Government’s budget?” Then he underscored that as the NG implements the Mandanas-Garcia is the Full devolution of LGUs functions. This results in the National Government’s transfer of functions and responsibilities to various LGUs to perform. He concluded that the Mandanas-Garcia ruling cannot be implemented in the BARMM because of three things: the current transition of the BARMM government, the BARMM has its own government code, and the LGUs under the BARMM government are mandated by the Bangsamoro Organic Law.

As panel reactor, Akhmad J. Usman, Regional director DBM SOCCSKSARGEN, however, argued that transfer of functions is not the intention citing “it is not the devolution of functions but to realize the unrealized functions”, rather it is the complementing and/or distributive role of the NG. This includes maximizing the opportunities by empowering LGUs and requiring the LGUs a devolution plan.

In celebration of the Bangsamoro Foundation Day, the Policy Research and Legal Services (PRLS) of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) are calling for submission of Policy and/or Legal Commentaries on any Issue in relation to the Bangsamoro Foundation Day’s theme: Changing People’s Lives, Transforming the Bangsamoro: Celebrating and Sustaining the Gains of Peace and Moral Governance.

You may submit your entry through the following form: https://forms.gle/U9PihAHkCqGxGh5u6

Six (6) entries will be selected among the submissions and will be awarded 5000 PHP as cash prize. Winning entries will also have the privilege of having their works published and publicized by the PRLS Social Media Outlets.

Deadline of Submission will be on 20th of January 2022, 5:00 pm.

Announcement of winning entries will be on 21st of January 2022.

To learn more about policy and legal commentaries, you may check the following pages:

Policy Commentaries : Policy Commentaries | PRLS (Policy Research and Legal Services)

Legal Commentaries : Legal Commentaries | PRLS (Policy Research and Legal Services)

In commemoration of the 3^rd Bangsamoro Foundation Day, the BARMM Parliament’s Policy Research and  Legal Services (PRLS), in partnership with the Ministry of Interior and Local Government (MILG) will be conducting a series of talks on “Moral Governance on BARMM’s Fiscal and Local Autonomy,” on January 19, 2022, 8:00 A.M.

Below are the abstracts and bio-notes of the speakers:

• Nassef Manabilang Adiong, PhD – With more than 50 academic publications, 25 academic grants, 21 awards (UP Scientist, Bangsamoro Parliament’s commendation, UP Centennial Professorial Chair, PUP Professorial Chair, The Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines, among others), 14 scholarships, 6 fellowships, 6 consultancies, and numerous researches, Dr Nassef Manabilang Adiong is quite befitting in his current role as the Director of the Bangsamoro Parliament’s Policy Research and Legal Services (PRLS). Shepherding towards reforms in the political economy of world’s knowledge systems conveniently lenient to Western canons, he founded three research organizations, five book series, and one scholarly journal to provide impetus to marginalized plurality of intellectual voices. His recognition extends beyond the Philippine soil as he was elected as member-at-large officer at ISA Asia-Pacific Region in 2021, governing board officer at the World International Studies Committee in 2020, and Asia representative at the ISA Global South Caucus in 2018. For details, proceed to https://nassef.info/.

Topic: A talk on Moral Governance

Abstract: Governance has been at the fulcrum of the Bangsamoro’s leadership. Whether it has been—or can yet be—good or moral governance is the question at hand. The discussion of good governance precedes that of moral governance in this article, with the former describing a modern-secular form of good governance as defined by international and multilateral organizations, while the latter propounds the idea of an Islamic-rooted moral governance. The new BARMM autonomous 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. Its leadership is determined to lead and manage the Moro society based on “moral governance.” However, it is difficult to understand what moral governance means. By using an exploratory design to frame research as inquiry and gain insights on moral governance as the BARMM’s agendum, the research navigated and conceptualized the meaning of moral governance based on a proposed framework that constitutes five immutable principles: Faith, Freedom, Moral Authority, Common Good, and Social Ethics. By constituting these interrelated principles that will map the framework towards practice, within the distinct historical and faith context of Muslim Philippines, an authentic Bangsamoro leadership is envisaged as a tolerant society to various Muslim groups and non-Muslim communities—Christians and Indigenous Peoples in particular. Consequently, the juxtaposed comparison of the ARMM and the BARMM will, in effect, highlight the tasks that were not successfully or satisfactorily implemented by the ARMM. These are areas where the BARMM can build its introductory steps to come up to the challenges of moral governance.

• Atty. Sha Elijah B. Dumama-Alba – She is the Bangsamoro Attorney General of the BARMM. She is co-Head of the Joint Secretariat of the Intergovernmental Relations Body. She took up BA in Public Administration at UP Diliman and finished her Law degree at San Beda Mendiola in 2007. She was admitted to the Philippine Bar in 2008. Atty. Alba is an Asia Foundation Development Fellow alumna. She was part of the 2019 Obama Leaders Class in Asia and Tatler Asia’s Gen.T List 2020 Leaders of Tomorrow. She is also an Asia Peace Innovators Fellow 2020. She placed 3^rd in the Special Shariah Bar Examinations in 2018. She served as Deputy Executive Director of the  Bangsamoro Transition Commission, and Attorney VI of the Civil Service Commission – ARMM before being appointed Attorney General in 2019.

Topic: The Intergovernmental Relations Between the National and the Bangsamoro Government

Abstract: Intergovernmental relations (IGR) are critical for the effective and efficient service delivery by governments, as an important component of any political system with more than one level of government. The IGRB is a mechanism created for the national government and the Bangsamoro Government (BG) to coordinate and resolve issues on intergovernmental relations through regular consultation and continuing negotiation in a non-adversarial manner. With powers granted to the BG under the Bangsamoro Organic Law, discussions on the exercise of these powers by the BG are undertaken at the IGRB level. BARMM ministries and their counterpart national agencies directly engage with each other to cooperate and coordinate on matters that involve simultaneous exercise of these powers. In an effort to lay the foundation for IGR in the Bangsamoro context, the Bangsamoro Administrative Code outlines the principles of cooperative government and IGR, namely: (a) Observing mutual respect between the different levels of government; (b) Maintaining an ethos of interdependence; and (c) Providing a platform for civic participation. How these principles are gradually being established towards marshalling coordinated service delivery of governments is an ongoing endeavor that makes IGR not an end by itself, but a means to democratize institutions, address imbalance, and extend services to all.

• Mr. Vincent Casil, MA – He is the Officer-in-Charge/Chief of the Legislative Research Division under the Bangsamoro Parliament’s Policy Research and Legal Services. He is a China-ASEAN University Network’s Ph.D. scholar at Guangxi University, China, and a doctoral student in Philippine Studies at the University of the Philippines. His works explore the questions of political economy and its intersection with the development of democracy in the Bangsamoro region. As an academic, He has taught at Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle–College of St. Benilde, Lyceum of the Philippines University, and Philippine Christian University, and has supervised policy-related studies with the City of Malabon. His recent publication is on Merit-based Recruitment: Exploration of the Concept of Merit in the Bangsamoro (2021), where he enriched the notion of merit-based hiring in view of the principles of faith, freedom, moral authority, common good, and social ethics.

Topic: Devolution and the Bangsamoro: its Issues and Challenges

Abstract: The Mandanas-Garcia Supreme court ruling implies that greater resources shall be given to Local Government Units (LGUs). As a result, larger political roles are seen in the LGUs, which may be in need to be clarified to smoothen its relation with the National Government. Such a task of devolving political functions in LGUs is further made difficult in the Bangsamoro context, as the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), which established BARMM as a political unit, lacks clear articulation on how these powers will be decentralized to region’s LGUs, which are still operating under 1991 Local Government Code. Noting the issue, the paper further highlights other critical problems latent in the process of devolution by surveying significant experiences of governments of other countries that have shared the same experience where its national government has devolved some of its power to its local units. From this comprehensive grasp of critical issues of devolution, BARMM could draw key lessons and concepts that could be used to craft a sound framework to materialize the Mandanas-Garcia ruling in the region. 

On the Production of Educational Materials tailored to the needs of the Bangsamoro People

Authored by Vincent L. Casil

Education plays a key role in building communities. It develops the population into skilled and knowledgeable citizens, integral for a well-functioning society. In the Bangsamoro context, education is not only an institution that trains its citizens to learn various skills. More than its practical functions, it also has a humanistic task of shaping its people’s sense-making on social issues, history, and identity. This goal could be achieved by introducing the relevant materials that explore the Bangsamoro conditions so that the students could have a meaningful understanding of the region’s social, historical, and cultural setting. However, such a crucial task could not be achieved if there is a scarcity of educational materials that embodies the unique Bangsamoro experience and worldview. Without the necessary materials, the aspiration for a more developed and just Bangsamoro society that can authentically determine its fate is hardly achievable.