“It’s important that the Bangsamoro Electoral Code is passed because, first of all, it is one of the priority codes under the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL).”
— BTA Parliament Floor Leader Atty. Bai Sha Elijah Dumama-Alba
By EDD K. USMAN | Twitter: @edd1819 | Instagram: @bluestar0910 | Facebook: SDN — Scitech and Digital News
CROWN PLAZA GALLERIA, Ortigas Center, Pasig City (SDN) — Bangsamoro Parliament Floor Leader Atty. Bai Sha Elijah Dumama-Alba has emphasized the importance of passing the proposed Bangsamoro Electoral Code (BEC).
The BEC is known as BTA Bill No. 29, “An Act Providing for the Bangsamoro Electoral Code for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao”.
It was crafted by the BTA Members of Parliament (MPs), many of them lawyers, or otherwise professionals, including members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), and some from Mindanao-based civil society organizations (CSOs).
Dumama-Alba, chairperson of the BARMM Legislative Body’s Committee on Rules, had an exclusive interview on Thursday with SDN — Scitech and Digital News. SDN is one of the winners of the 2022 Platinum Heart Media Awards of the Philippine Heart Association and Philippine College of Cardiology (PHA-PCC) given on October 12.
She cited some reasons why the BEC needs to be passed.
“It’s important that the Bangsamoro Electoral Code is passed because, first of all, it is one of the priority codes under the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL).”
She was referring to the seven priority codes that must be passed, such as Administrative, Civil Service, Electoral, Education, Revenue, Local Governance, and Indigenous People’s Rights.
The second reason, she mentioned is that the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) needs to have its own “electoral code that responds to and is in accordance with our peculiar setup of a parliamentary government” in preparation for the elections in 2025.
It can be recalled that the transition of the BARMM to a regular parliamentary government started in 2019 and was to lapse in 2022, but it was extended to 2025, chiefly among the reasons was the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic, the massive health crisis disruptor that broke out in December 2019 and still affecting all aspects of life across the globe today.
Former President Rodrigo R. Duterte, considered by the Bangsamoro people as the architect of the BARMM, approved and signed the law that allowed the extension of the life of the BTA to finish all its tasks, preparing the Bangsamoro region for regular course of governance.
Comprising the Bangsamoro region are the provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi, the cities of Cotabato, Lamitan, and Marawi, as well as the Special Geographic Area (SGA) made up of 63 barangays or villages in North Cotabato.
BARMM abolished and replaced the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) through the BOL to implement the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) forged by the Philippine Government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) after 17 years of protracted peace talks often derailed by either major fighting or skirmishes.
The BTA governs the region on an interim basis.
Dumama-Alba led the first public consultations on the BEC in Metro Manila on October 20 and 21 here at the Crown Plaza Galleria, Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila, with national government agencies (NGAs) invited on the first day to voice and submit their positions on the BEC. On the second day, resource persons came from various organizations, such as women sector, PPCRV (Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting), LENTE (Legal Network for Truthful Elections), Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), among others.
She pointed out that one of the goals of the public consultations is to see whether any provision of the draft BEC bill contains conflicting passages other laws; that is why the Commission on elections (Comelec) and others were invited, “to get their insights.”
The BTA Parliament floor leader cited the “uniqueness of our region”, meaning its parliamentary form of government in a Republican setup.
According to the emerging issues on the BEC, Dumama-Alba said there are three provisions (so far) that are in the line of fire, so to speak.
- the BEC’s Bangsamoro Electoral Tribunal or BET (which is similar to the Senate and House of Representatives’ HRET (House of Electoral Tribunal)
- Bangsamoro Electoral Office (BEO)
- participation of women — which she pointed out is 10 percent like in the national government. “We want to set the bar higher (on this aspect),” she emphasized. “We understand the drafters of the BEC went for the national threshold.”
She welcomed the inputs of the resource speakers, saying the consultations make it sure all the concerned stakeholders and their views are covered in the process of legislating the BEC. She added that this process will make the proposed bill better.
In relation with this, she voiced an appeal to the people of the Bangsamoro region.
“We are asking the support of all the Bangsamoro people across the country. In the transition period, we need your prayers so we can put in place something that would benefit them,” said Dumama-Alba.
“And that they continue to trust in the leadership of the Chief Minister (Al-Hajj Murad Ebrahim).”
More public consultations are lined up for BEC, with next to be done on the Bangsamoro region’s island provinces of Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi.
And likely, in the mainland areas of Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Sur, and Maguindanao del Norte.
The Parliament launched the first of the public consultations in Metro Manila to get the views and insights of national government agencies (NGAs). (✓)