DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 26 November) – The League of Bangsamoro Organizations (LBO), a network of over 600 organizations across the country, has rejected Senate Bill 2879 filed by Senator Robinhood Padilla, which proposes the creation a BaSulTa (Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi) Autonomous Region out of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
“We believe that Senate Bill 2879 undermines the unity, progress, and stability of the Bangsamoro people and raises serious concerns that cannot be ignored,” the group said in a press statement.
The group stressed the measure “violates” the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) and Republic Act 11054 or the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL).
The establishment of the BARMM is a product of long and painstaking negotiations between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Government of the Philippines (GPH), the LBO said.
The CAB was signed by the government and the MILF in 2014 after 17 years of peace negotiations. Its key component includes the establishment of a Bangsamoro region with greater political and economic autonomy.
Mahdie Almella, LBO spokesperson, said that Senate Bill 2879 “is divisive and disruptive and directly contravenes various agreements by undermining the unity and framework that bind the Bangsamoro people and the government in their collective pursuit of peace and progress.”
“(The proposed) BaSulTa Autonomous Region fosters division among the Bangsamoro people. Instead of fostering unity and cooperation, it risks creating discord and unhealthy rivalry among different regions, groups, and sectors of the Moro population. It contradicts the fundamental principles of unity and inclusivity that underlie the BARMM,” he said.
The group said the proposed BaSulTa Autonomous Region “will worsen the challenges in Sulu, that instead of resolving existing issues, it will disrupt service delivery, set a harmful precedent, and encouraging unnecessary fragmentation and undermining regional unity and the mandate of the BOL.”
“We call on Senator Padilla and all policymakers to engage in constructive dialogue with the Bangsamoro leaders and stakeholders, including representatives from BARMM and grassroots organizations,” the group said.
Padilla pushed the bill after the decision of the Supreme Court excluding Sulu from the Bangsamoro region, which has caused political instability in the region. (Ferdinandh Cabrera / MindaNews)
