ALERT: Transitional Justice & Reconciliation Bills Still Pending in Senate, House of Representatives

“This is why, when we are asked why Rido and armed clashes still persist in the BARMM despite the signing of the peace agreement, the answer is plain and simple – the lack of a TJR program as mandated in the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB).”

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MANILA, April 26, 2025 (SDN) — Why are the Transitional Justice and Reconciliation (TJR) bills in the Senate and the House of Representatives still in “limbo”, as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has called out (“limbo” like stalled, idled)?

After all, more than nine years had already passed — and years can’t be turned back — since the Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) had completed its Report in fulfilment of its mandate.

The TJRC’s mandate as MILF Peace Implementing Panel (PIP) Chair Mohagher M. Iqbal has pointed out focuses on performing a study and recommending to the panels of the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the MILF “the appropriate mechanisms to address the legitimate grievances of the Bangsamoro people, correct historical injustice and address human rights violations and marginalization through land dispossession, towards healing and reconciliation.”

Nothing’s done yet as the TJR bills in the Senate and the House of Representatives are in a “parking mode” — meaning the vital legislative measures — vital to the overall peace and security situation in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) — are unmoving like the stalled vehicles on EDSA and other traffic-clogged National Capital Region (NCR) roadways.

Results: Rido (clan feud) and armed clashes are still breaking out in the Bangsamoro region, as Iqbal said in his sponsorship speech on April 21 during the second reading of Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) Parliament Bill No. 353, titled An Act Establishing a Regional Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Program, Creating for the Purpose the Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Commission, Appropriating Funds, Therefore, and for Other Purposes, got its plenary treatment at the Parliament on April 21, 2025.

Here’s Iqbal’s sponsorship speech of the regional bill which he described as one that is closest to his heart, in full:

SPONSORSHIP SPEECH
Parliament Bill No. 353
By BTA Member of the Parliament Mohagher M. Iqbal
April 21, 2025

“AN ACT ESTABLISHING A BANGSAMORO TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE AND RECONCILIATION PROGRAM, CREATING FOR THE PURPOSE THE BANGSAMORO TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION, APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES”
COURTESIES

It is with great honor and privilege for me to sponsor, on behalf of the Government of the Day, Parliament Bill No. 353 which is entitled: “An Act Establishing a Bangsamoro Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Program, Creating for the Purpose the Bangsamoro Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Commission, Appropriating Funds Therefor, and for Other Purposes”.

Among the many agenda that the GPH-MILF Peace Talks have covered in those 17 long years of negotiations, the Transitional Justice and Reconciliation is the one closest to my heart. This is very personal to me because it deals squarely with the legitimate grievances of the Moro people. It underpins the legitimacy of the Bangsamoro struggle for self-determination.

This view finds resonance in the report of the Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Commission which cited that, “legitimate grievances of the Bangsamoro people, historical injustice, human rights violations, and marginalization through land dispossession” are the consequences of three mutually reinforcing phenomena: deep neglect by the State (and lack of a vision for the common good), violence (including systematic socioeconomic, political and cultural exclusion, and disproportionate use of direct violence), supported by a deeply embedded (nationwide culture and practice of) impunity. The root cause lies in the imposition of a monolithic Filipino identity and Philippine State by force on multiple ethnic groups in Mindanao and Sulu that saw themselves as already preexisting nations and nation-states.”

It is not simply by chance that the Transitional Justice and Reconciliation (TJR) is included in the Annex on Normalization parallel with Decommissioning, Amnesty, Camp Transformation, Gradual Withdrawal of the Military and Disbandment of Armed Groups, among others. It was deliberate to place it under Normalization because the Bangsamoro contemporary situation can never normalize without the Filipino and Moro nations dealing with our bloody and violent past.

This is why, when we are asked why Rido and armed clashes still persist in the BARMM despite the signing of the peace agreement, the answer is plain and simple – the lack of a TJR program as mandated in the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB). The signing of the CAB does not amount to the resolution of conflict. Historical grievances, communal violence and human rights violations and abuses continue to fuel ongoing violence and distrust. If the Bangsamoro is to realize genuine and lasting peace, it must confront the pain of its past. There is no true reconciliation without truth, no healing without justice. The path forward demands that we address these historical wounds through a meaningful and fully implemented TJR program.

Lessons from the experience of other countries like South Africa, Rwanda, Cambodia and East Timor taught us that there are no shortcuts and easy route to Transitional Justice and Reconciliation (TJR). We cannot simply ask the Bangsamoro people to forgive and forget and move on to the future.
No amount of long dribble strategy can escape us from the need to implement TJR. The horrors of the past will continue to haunt the Bangsamoro and fuel ongoing conflicts until both the National Government and Bangsamoro proceed with the TJR process.

It has been nine years since the Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) completed its Report in accordance with its mandate to “undertake a study and recommend to the Panels the appropriate mechanisms to address the legitimate grievances of the Bangsamoro people, correct historical injustice and address human rights violations and marginalization through land dispossession, towards healing and reconciliation.”.

The TJRC report contains a very long list of recommendations which practically present to us a roadmap on how to implement the TJR for the Bangsamoro.

The operative act, that is required to operationalize and implement these Recommendations, is the establishment of the National Transitional Justice and Reconciliation for the Bangsamoro (NTJRCB) which requires an enabling legislation.

Let me emphasize here that the TJRC recommendation is for the establishment of a national TJR mechanism. While it does not preclude the BARMM to create a regional mechanism as proposed under this proposed bill – let me clarify and state the very obvious that this cannot supplant the need for the establishment of the national transitional justice mechanism. It needs to be national in scope and character because the so-called historical injustice committed against the Moro people extends far beyond the territorial jurisdiction of the BARMM. This is why we must continue to demand from the National Government to deliver what it has committed under the CAB.

While this legislative measure aims to establish a TJR program and regional mechanism within the BARMM, the MILF will continue to assert and remind the National Government for the immediate enactment of pending bills in the House of Representatives and House of Senate entitled: Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Act of the Bangsamoro

Although the BARMM can already address certain elements of the TJR recommendations within its current powers, these efforts remain limited in scope—and insufficient to meaningfully address the core issues of impunity, accountability, and justice.

Without national legislation, the hardest truths of our past remain unresolved. True reconciliation demands a whole-of-nation approach, backed by a comprehensive legal framework that ensures no victim is forgotten and no injustice left unacknowledged.

At the level of the BARMM, particularly the MBHTE, BHRC and BCPCH, for instance, we are already working on the specific TJRC recommendations, such as:

1. Developing culturally and gender-sensitive educational material related to the Bangsamoro and indigenous people for the national curricula in all regions and at all levels.

2. Creating an educational program, targeting schools at all a grade level that explains the history of the Bangsamoro and indigenous peoples, their culture and their contribution to the Philippine history and identity.

3. Strengthening Islamic education and the madaris system as an integral part of the Philippine educational system.

Admittedly, our efforts are very limited without the crucial participation of the National Government who will need to address the more fundamental issue on the Right to Justice. Bangsamoro can go on and on among ourselves, talking about the massacres, displacement, abuses, discrimination, land grabbing and dispossession but at the end of the day who will be accountable? To whom shall be reconcile with? Who will be held to account for redress of grievances? How can we address national laws and policies that were implemented to legalize land dispossession among the Moro people and the indigenous peoples?

These can only be addressed at the very top echelon of powers in the Philippine government and requires the commitment and sincerity to set the TJR process into motion.

Many of us may be as old as the adage that say “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Parliament Bill 353 is our humble contribution to move forward with the need to deal with the past. Reconciliation can only be achieved by dealing with past. In this modern age of digital communications and social media, history can easily be distorted by fake news and online revisionism.

I invite all Members of the Parliament to support the immediate passage of this law and demonstrate to the Philippine National Government and the international community that the BARMM, albeit in a limited capacity, possess the political will to proceed and implement the TJR process even if the national law on TJR remains in legislative limbo. By acting now, we affirm our commitment to justice, healing, and lasting peace for our people.

I thank you in advance for your support. Wassalam. (/)