Tag: bangsamoro

Autonomous Regional Parliament of the Bangsa Assemblies (ARPBA): the end of political dynasties and the rise of proportional representation by community welfare clans and service-oriented sectors

A revolutionary idea of abolishing LGU system (from governors, mayors to barangay captains) and changing the 80-member regional representation to what I call the “Autonomous Regional Parliament of the Bangsa Assemblies (ARPBA)” as the new name of BARMM. It shall be composed of 261 elected officers and service-based sectoral representatives of the nine standalone Bangsa Assemblies referring to (1) The Bangsa M’ranaw Assembly, (2) The Bangsa Magindanaw Assembly, (3) The Bangsa Sug Assembly, (4) The Bangsa Iranun Assembly, (5) The Bangsa Sama Assembly, (6) The Bangsa Yakan Assembly, (7) The Bangsa Bajaw Assembly, (8) The Bangsa Indigenous Peoples Assembly, and (9) The Bangsa Settler Communities Assembly.

The number of representatives per Bangsa Assembly is determined by proportional representation based on the number of registered community welfare clans and societal sectors representation. A community welfare clan is usually composed of a group of close-knit and interrelated families and subclans while societal sectors refer to regular service-oriented representations. This type of non-territorial and culturally embedded representation will control and limit the influence of prolonged political dynasties established by a handful kinship of political elites. All community welfare clans and communal service-oriented sectors will have equal political representation and equitable access to governmental public resources. It will no longer be accessible to very few clans/families who have been holding the positions of governors, mayors, or barangay captains for quite some time and yet for decades there are minimal economic progress with poor quality of basic services (e.g., electricity, water, internet/mobile connectivity, road infrastructure, etc.) delivered.

Upon determining Assembly representations, each Bangsa Assembly shall elect their own (1) Speaker who shall take the Chief Minister position, (2-3) two Deputy Speakers who automatically becomes the Deputy Ministers, (4-5) Majority Leader and its deputy, (6-7) Minority Leader and its deputy, and regular service-based sectoral representatives from the (8) youth services, (9) women services, (10) elderly services, (11) persons with disabilities (PWDs) services, (12) religious or ulama and pilgrimage services, (13) academe and education services, (14) business, trade and commerce services, (15) finance and investment services, (16) agriculture and forestry services, (17) aquaculture and fisheries services, (18) healthcare services, (19) energy and electricity services, (20) water services, (21) environment, shelter, and climate change resiliency services, (22) labor, livelihood and social services, (23) public infrastructure, flood management, and transportation services, (24) information technology, telecommunication and internet services, (25) public order, security and safety services, (26) Research & Development (R&D) services, (27) Science & Technology (S&T) services, (28) cultural heritage services, and (29) public media, entertainment, and tourism services.

The elected sectoral service representatives shall automatically take the leadership role of their respective ministries, agencies and offices (MOAs) within a particular Bangsa Assembly, thus public services are devolved and trickle down to their own people. It is up to the particular Bangsa Assembly’s preference if they wanted to add other types of services in the budget appropriation in creating new public service-oriented MOAs. For now, each Bangsa Assembly shall have a total of 29 elected Assembly Officers which shall form part the total number of Members of the Bangsamoro Peoples Parliament at the regional level, i.e., a total of 261 MPs. The computation is shown below:

The eligible candidates for BPP Speakership are the nine Speakers of the nine Bangsa Assemblies. All 261 MPs will have to vote to determine the regional BPP Speaker. This same method shall also be applied to determine the two regional BPP Deputy Speakers, one regional BPP Majority Leader and its deputy, and one regional BPP Minority Leader and its deputy. The regional service-oriented sectoral representations shall form their own “BPP Caucus” which shall proactively initiate the crafting of legislations reflective of the voice and interest of the sector their representing. For example, the nine MPs under the women services of the Bangsa Assemblies shall create the “BPP Women Caucus” which shall spearhead GAD-relevant advocacies in legislating laws and implementing public policies both in their particular Bangsa Assembly’s homeland and in the regional Bangsamoro Peoples Parliament of BARMM.

Revisiting the Narrative of Bangsamoro with Dr. Potre

The Policy Research and Legal Services (PRLS-BTA) was fortunate to have Bangsamoro’s very own Dr. Potre Dirampatan-Diampuan, Ph.D., who delivered a fascinating virtual lecture on the History of the Bangsamoro. The lecture was threefold: (1) Bangsamoro Ethno-linguistic groups and identity, (2) Narratives of the Muslims in the Philippines: A Historicity, and (3) Chronicle of Muslims affairs in the Philippines.

In the first session, she introduces, as she dubbed, the 13+1 Bangsamoro Ethno-linguistic groups and identity (Badjao, Iranun, Jama Mapun, Kalagan, Kalibugan, Palawani, M’ranao, Malbog, Sama, Sangil, Tausug, and Yakan plus the Balik Islam group), and their intra-faith and intra-cultural diversity that have shaped the past of the Muslims in the Philippines at present, citing “While we engaged in Interfaith, we need also to work in Intra-faith (Dialogues).” Then she connected it to “History to Policy” where she stressed, “learn from the past as a way to move forward for the better Bangsamoro” further expressing that we are the product of social events of the past that are beyond our control, or Dejala (you are already there).

In the second session, Dr. Potre dubbed the Narratives of the Muslims in the Philippines: A Historicity as “A full semester in a four-hour lecture.” For this part of the Philippine Muslim history, we have witnessed both notable movements and tragic accounts that greatly contributed to the present Bangsamoro:

  • The stages of Spanish-Moro wars highlighting the Moro’s principality and inevitable resistance against Spanish subjugations; “If the national heroes became heroes because they fought for freedom, we should also be (considered) as heroes for not only defending but fighting till the Japanese time.”
  • The Moro problems, mainly the derogatory representation of the Spaniards of Moro identity. Dr. Potre cited, “The Moro-Moro stage play: only on stage that the Spaniards defeated the Moros.”
  • The discriminatory land laws against the Moros by the Spaniards, the introduction of land reforms that are derogatory to Muslims; the denial of royal titles by the Philippine government, and the Filipinization and Moro disbarment.
  • The Pre-Martial law tragedies: the Jabidah massacre and the Ilaga massacres/movements that triggered the Bangsamoro movements. What makes these atrocities worst, as Dr. Potre adhered, is the no regard from the government as well as the no actions and no recognition of the numbers of atrocities against Muslims; and
  • The Muslims in the Philippines at present, where she accounts the (a) the various responses of the Muslims to the abovementioned atrocities and (b) the establishments of Muslim communities in Metro-Manila in the 1970s. Historicity simply means separating facts from false narratives which includes the collective authentic works from our recent scholars. It answers the question of why the Muslims in the Philippines are being less regarded in policymaking.

Lastly, in the Chronicle of Muslims affairs in the Philippines, Dr. Potre explored the evolution of Muslim affairs, from the colonial period, American colonization, and the Philippine rule, highlighting, among others, the enactment of Presidential Decree 1083 (PD1083) also known as the Code of Muslim Personal Laws of the Philippines. This, on the other hand, answers the question of what the challenges are and lapses of Muslims in running a government.

As a synopsis, Dr. Potre concluded that the present Bangsamoro government has a set of opportunities and challenges. Opportunities in a sense that we can still change and correct our previous shortcomings, and challenges in a way that we need to meet the BARMM’s vision of uplifting the Bangsamoro’s lives and governing ourselves through moral governance. She ends her lecture by saying “It is up to us if we make the difference” and “let’s continue courting the government… we are trying to help in nation-building while trying to make the government understand (our aspirations).”

“It is up to us if we make the difference” and “let’s continue courting the government… we are trying to help in nation-building while trying to make the government understand (our aspirations).”

Potre D. Dirampatan Diampuan, Ph.D.

The lecture was so timely, first, the BARMM celebrates its third founding anniversary anchored on the theme “Changing people’s lives: Transforming the Bangsamoro,” and second, the PRLS is currently in partnership with the Ministry of Local and Interior Government (MILG) on LGUs trend of the Supreme Courts’ Mandanas-Garcia ruling and devolution of LGUs functions.

Watch the recorded lecture on our youtube channel: https://youtu.be/ZRdDUVilqrY