IN a recent Senate session, Sen. Francis “Tol” Tolentino, chairman of the Senate Committee on Local Governments, made a case for the extension of the term of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) by sponsoring his Committee Report No. 258.
The reasons justifying such an extension are contained in Senate Bill 2214, which Tolentino also endorsed to the senators.
The BTA acts as the interim government of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) with the passage of the Bangsamoro Organic Law in 2019. The body, whose members were appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte, effectively takes over the duties and functions of the defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and is given by law until 2022 to prepare its area of jurisdiction for an election of regular officials. Tolentino, sponsor of the measure, said it is impossible to hold the elections next year because Bangsamoro’s election code and parliamentary districts have not been created, and work on these and other items had been delayed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
‘In Mindanao and in the halls of Congress, the issue of BTA’s term extension and postponement of the BARMM elections have become incendiary.’
In Mindanao and in the halls of Congress, the issue of BTA’s term extension and postponement of the BARMM elections have become incendiary. While we note that a majority of stakeholders are in favor of Tolentino’s bill and committee report, to give the BTA members more time to put their house in order before the autonomous region’s first election, there have also been oppositors.
In the Southern Philippines itself, non-Moro indigenous peoples within the BARMM territory have been pushing for the BTA the inclusion of their rights in the forthcoming government, as articulated, they say, in the Bangsamoro Organic Law. They do not want the extension, saying “the BTA should secure its democratic mandate by giving people the power to choose its own leaders.”
On the Senate floor, Sen. Panfilo Lacson aired a totally different take on the issue. He said, “we are treading on a very dangerous ground or precedent here because if the pandemic is the reason for the postponement of the BARMM election next year, it could open the floodgates to a No-El in the national and local elections next year.”
While the non-Moro indigenous peoples have a sound reason for their objection, Lacson’s point is quite a stretch, for he knows that with ongoing Comelec preparations, the national elections will be a “go” in 2022, with the pandemic or without it. The poll body has even released a calendar of activities for the national and local elections as early as February.
Tolentino believes that there is hope for “enduring peace” in Mindanao under the legal framework of the Constitution and the Bangsamoro Organic Law, and hopes that the senators and the members of the House of Representatives will join him in this advocacy.
As chair of the local governments committee, he is on the right track here.
