Photo courtesy of the Office of Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri
COTABATO CITY—Senate Bill (SB) 2214 that appeals to extend the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) period by postponing the first regional parliamentary elections in May 2022 to 2025 entered the interpellation period on Wednesday, May 26.
The bill intends to amend the Republic Act 11054, or the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), which formed the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
Senator Francis Tolentino, who chairs the committee on local government, reiterates that the bill only seeks to extend the transition period of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) and not its appointed officials.
“We are not extending the terms of people comprising the Bangsamoro Transition Authority [BTA], we are extending the term of the institution,” Senator Tolentino said.
The BOL states that the BARMM will take a three-year transition period, during which the interim BTA shall lay its legal foundations for the regular Bangsamoro Government that will take over in May 2022.
Senator Tolentino noted that several unseen instances and challenges like the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19), slowed the crafting of the priority codes by the BTA’s Members of the Parliament.
He defended the bill from questions raised by other senators during the plenary debates.
Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson believed that postponement of the first election requires a plebiscite by the Bangsamoro people.
“In the plebiscite they ratified last January of 2019, kasama po ito sa kanilang ni-ratify na magkakaroon ng eleksiyon after the transition period of three years,” Senator Lacson stressed.
[In the plebiscite they ratified last January of 2019, this is among the things they ratified, that there will be an election after the transition period of three years.”]
However, Senator Tolentino said the current regional government structure will not be affected and will remain the same even after the election postponement, stating that “the structure is not affected. The organic law remains, but the substantive right, the fundamental right to vote might be delayed.”
Further, Tolentino explained a plebiscite is needed if the revisions or amendments to the organic acts are constitutionally essential to the creation of autonomous regions. Thereafter, the supreme court enumerated the 3 constitutionally essentials: (1) the structure; (2) the judicial system; and (3) the specified functions of the parliament.
“The BOL R.A 11054 is very clear, when it was enacted and even ratified by the people. Section 1 of Article 17 refers to the amendment and revisions, and I quote ‘any amendment to revision or repeal of the organic law shall be made by law enacted by the Congress of the Philippines,’ and this was ratified by the people of the Bangsamoro. They agreed when they voted in the plebiscite that any change in this bangsamro law can be done by the congress,” he added.
“The people of Bangsamoro, through that plebiscite, agreed that the Congress can amend, and the powers of the Congress cannot be curtailed.” Tolentino stressed.
The BOL mandates the BTA to pass priority codes during the transition period that include the Bangsamoro Electoral Code that defines and identifies parliamentary districts needed in order to perform the first regional parliamentary elections in May 2022.
Senator Tolentino said the BTA has not passed the electoral code, which hampers the regional polls to be executed as scheduled.
President Rodrigo Duterte has openly announced his support the push to extend for another three years the transition period of the Bangsamoro Government.
The interpellation period will continue on the afternoon of Thursday, May 27. (Bangsamoro Information Office)
