The framers of the 1987 Constitution support the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL). Below are excerpts from their statement. ----- The importance of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region to the future of our country is unprecedented both as an unfulfilled promise and as a model of equitable autonomy... We believe that a new organic law is necessary to fulfill the vision and spirit that guided the constitutional provisions on autonomous regions since RA 6734 and RA 9054 have clearly not gone far enough to give life to the concept of autonomy for Muslim Mindanao as envisioned by the Constitution. ... The core principle of the 1987 Constitution in mandating a special status for the autonomous regions is the human development of the people of Muslim Mindanao and the Cordilleras. Hence, the public conversation should not be about semantics but about people – their needs, their aspirations, their choices - and about empowering them with the environment and institutional framework for social justice. ... Human development is a noble end in itself. But the larger context of the CAB and the proposed BBL is our failure to effectively address the longest running insurgency and the development of our peoples, especially those of Muslim Mindanao. Excerpts from a paper sent to the Constitutional Commission in 1986 briefly describes that perspective: “Autonomy is an expression of the Bangsa Moro’s conviction of its being a viable alternative to separation….The Bangsa Moro is historically and culturally a distinct and separate nation ….. and the political fusion with the Christian majority is workable only under a framework of political autonomy which shall allow the full flowering of the genius of Bangsa Moro in the context of his Islamic culture.” The full flowering of the genius of a people is human development. And it needs a place of its own because it is a basic human right. Both sovereignty and property are premised on exclusion. That leaves us with a problem. How do we reconcile our needs and our borders?” If all human beings are free and equal, then each person is entitled to belong somewhere and to obtain the things they need to live and to be free. If people cannot obtain what they need where they are, or if they have no place where they are entitled to be, then our exclusion of them denies their humanity . The full flowering of Bangsamoro is assured if their leaders from a long line of heroic resistance to colonization can believe that Bangsamoro, with meaningful self-determination within the framework of the Republic, has a future and they can help create that future. .... Reason tells us that a Bangsamoro Autonomous Region can close the centuries-old gap between law and justice and that we are on the cusp of a historic opportunity to make it happen. .... The challenge of the BBL presents to us another chance at national incandescence. It is within our reach. Let us set aside partisan politics and stop the urge to exhibit our ability to find nuances of legalism that can delay, or worse, derail the process, feeding on the cynicism and playing on the fears in the national psyche that are more reflex than reasoned response... It has been 27 years since it was approved by our people but we are still living in the mass poverty, gross inequalities and cultural inequities of the past, and the promise of genuine social change has not unfolded. There is no better way to demonstrate our commitment to peace and development than by giving the Bangsamoro people the opportunity to create a higher and better future for themselves than what they have. This calls for courageous statemanship from our leaders and the generosity of spirit of a united nation. In turn, the challenge to the Bangsamoro people is to demonstrate the same commitment by treating other indigenous peoples and uniting other Muslim communities with magnanimity and statesmanship. In this manner, Bangsamoro can be a model for us to do the same for the rest of the country and thereby build together a more just and peaceful nation.
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 01:25:52 +0000
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