Annex on Power Sharing: An important step towards Bangsamoro self-determination

After days of tedious haggling, the GPH and the Moro Islamic Liberation (MILF) agreed on the the 3rd Annex on Power Sharing Arrangement.  No doubt the 3rd Annex is an important step in government’s recognition of the rights of Bangsamoro to self-determination, including their rights over their lands and resources. 

 

There are three powers that are clearly delineated defining the competence and jurisdiction of each protagonist in the political negotiation.  The first set of powers tells what the Central Government or CG retains as reserved powers for itself. There are nine of them and the foremost of these are the following: (1) Defense and External Security; (2) Foreign Policy; (3) Coinage and Monetary Policy; (4) Postal Services; (5) Citizenship and Naturalization; (6) Immigration;  (7) Custom & Tariff; (8) Common Market & Global Trade; and (9)  the Intellectual Property Rights.

 

The second set of powers informs us of the concurrent powers or the powers shared by both the Central Government and the Bangsamoro Government.  There are 14 of them and the most prominent are the following:  Land Registration; Human Rights & Humanitarian Protection; Administration of Justice; Disaster, Risk Reduction and Management; and Public Order and Safety.

 

The third set of powers defines the self-determination of the Bangsamoro Government. They define the EXCLUSIVE Powers of the Bangsamoro in 58 areas NOT mentioned in the first and the second.   An initial reading of the enumerated powers shows that this power sharing arrangement speaks not only of devolution but also of the competence and the original jurisdiction of the emerging Bangsamoro Government over all their local affairs and resources. This, indeed, is the clearer instrument to go in defining the concept of ‘self-determination’ within the Sovereign Philippine State.  

 

I believe that the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro or FAB and the four Annexes to be added (three are already done - the Annex on Transition and Modalities; the Annex on Wealth Sharing Arrangement; and the Annex on Power Sharing Arrangement) would consist the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the Philippine Government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

 

There is still one remaining Annex. This would deal on the normalization process after the agreement and the decommissioning of the combatants including private armies.  No doubt the very concept of ‘normalization and decommissioning’ sounds very daunting. But so far, we do see that ‘political will’ and good will on both sides no obstacles are insurmountable.

 

I know that this early, there are people who continue to believe that the FAB and the four annexes would NOT pass the constitutional test just like its predecessor, the Memorandum on Ancestral Domain in 2008.  But all these are speculative.  The ‘default’ mode adopted by both is Congress would legislate the Basic Law that would become the CHARTER of the Bangsamoro. The Congress legislated Basic Law, hopefully, is in substantial compliance with the Draft Basic Law now being debated and discussed in the 15-memebr Bangsamoro Transitional Commission.

 

The new Bangsamoro Government would be ‘ministerial’ in form.  Akin to the ‘Parliamentary form’ of Government, the powers would be exercised by the Bangsamoro Assembly or Parliament. Whether this is allowed by the present Constutution or there is a need to amend the said constitution to entrench the right of ‘self-determination’ outside the usual Presidential System currently enforced in the land. 
 

What is novel in the power sharing arrangement is the recognition of the EXCLUSIVE competence of the Bangsamoro Government over its local affairs; resources and ancestral domain; and ‘territorial waters’.  A clearer understanding of these powers is the principle that the powers that are NOT enumerated as reserved powers and concurrent powers belong to the exclusive competence of the Bangsamoro Government.

 

The combined wealth sharing arrangement and the power sharing arrangement shows how far and depth the negotiation has gone in defining the self-determination and ancestral domain.  To many who are critical of over-centralization of the National Government, the emergence of self-determining Bangsamoro over their peoples, local affairs, ancestral domain and waters , the emergence of the Bangsamoro Political Entity is a fresh wind that would really spell ‘devolution’ beyond rhetoric and ‘self-determination’ beyond sloganeering.  

 

This early, the new political party, the Centrist Democratic party of the Philippines, espouses the advocacy of Charter Reforms to move towards a Federal Republic of the Philippines.  In this vein, the Bangsamoro acquires a new meaning since it is a social and political experiment on self-rule of a region over its peoples, local affairs and resources.  For this reason, the party adopted a slogan, what is good for the Bangsamoro is GOOD for the Philippines!

 

With the FAB and the three annexes done, the attention would now focus on the drafting of the Basic Law.  In the final analysis, the real ‘legal tender’ is the Basic Law that would serve as the charter of the Bangsamoro.  Abangan!