No to BARMM extension, say Sulu Sultans

SULU: The Sultans of Sulu are protesting a proposed extension of the interim Bangsamoro government for another three years and called on Muslims in the country and President Rodrigo Duterte (pic) and Congress to disallow all attempts and manoeuvres to extend the tenure of those trying to hold on to power.

Influential Sultans Muizuddin Bahjin and Vennizar Julkarnain said aspiring members of the Bangsamoro parliament should be compelled to submit themselves before the true will of the people to legitimise their mandate through the electoral process as set and scheduled by the Constitution.

Chief Minister Murad Ebrahim, of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) and his allies in the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) are pushing and lobbying for the extension of the interim government.

It would also extend Ebrahim’s term and that of BTA members and those holding key positions in the regional government.

Ebrahim, also chief of the former rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), said he is pushing for the extension of the interim government, based on recommendation of the so-called peace advocacy group Mindanao Peoples’ Caucus that was made after its “rapid mid-term review” on the Bangsamoro transition period.

He has met several times with Duterte to lobby for the proposed extension even without public consultations and without even a meeting with the governors and mayors of the volatile region.

But House Deputy Speaker Mujiv Hataman, former governor of the Muslim autonomous region, also wanted to review the implementation of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), but this too was quickly rejected by BARMM. And it also asked lawmakers to audit the previous Hataman administration.

Both sultans issued a signed manifesto on February 13 enumerating the reasons for their opposition to the extension.

A copy of the manifesto was seen by The Manila Times and it read: “Royal House of Patikul, Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo, after having gone through series of consultation to gauge and register the pulse of our Ra’ayats viz-avis the performance of the BTA, conscious of the fact that Sulu registered a majority NO votes in a [2019] plebiscite to ratify the BOL forming the so-called Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, hereby make a stand arrived at in a consensus based on common observations.”

It listed the following issues with BARMM and BTA: “That since its inception, the BTA, which constitutes the so-called Bangsamoro Parliament and Regional Government have been markedly slow in the delivery of government services as mandated to Sulu, and for almost 2 years, all it delivered were the retrenchment and separation from services of regional employees, causing a great distraught to the affected and their families, and rather spent long working hours if only to deliberate and enact codes and bills while the administration of component localities – in particular, the insular provinces – were left to fend for themselves.”

“That, BARMM’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic in Sulu, thus far, have been unsubstantial and wanting; That, gauging from the general observation on the operation and performance of the BTA, it can be construed as deliberate delaying manoeuvre to justify the plan they seemingly hatched from the very start; that is, to ask for an extension, accordingly for as long as 7 years.”

And, “That, to allow the extension of the transition [period] would be tantamount to escape judgment by the constituents of the BARMM on the performance of the latter viz-a-vis its capability to administer a region, and would be a blatant denial of the people’s right of suffrage that is enshrined in the Constitution to which the BOL has been incorporated into, and thus requiring constitutional amendment or legislative intervention, failing which possibly legal redress maybe sought; That, the region, and the country in general, should be spared the humility and made a laughing stock for perpetuating the condescending brand “failed experiment.”

Other sultans of Sulu – Ibrahim Bahjin, Muedzul-Lail Kiram, Julkarnain Jainal Abirin and Phugdalun Kiram – have turned down the BOL.

Sulu Gov. Sakur Tan said municipal mayors and their constituents are also opposing the extension of the interim government and the BTA.

“People are now protesting here (in Sulu) because they are opposing the self-serving proposal to extend the interim Bangsamoro government for another 3 years,” he noted.

Sulu previously cited various reasons for rejecting the proposed extension, according to a manifesto passed on November 17 by the Provincial Board after consulting municipal mayors and peoples’ organisations, among other sectors.

The manifesto said the Bangsamoro Parliament and the Regional Government have not delivered even the most basic of government services, as mandated, to Sulu.

And for almost 2 years, all it delivered were the retrenchment and separation from services of regional employees causing a great distraught to the affected and their families.

It said that after almost 2 years, “all they can afford to banner is but the passing of an Administrative Code while…component localities, in particular, the insular provinces, [were] left to fend for themselves.”

The manifesto also said BARMM’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic in Sulu, thus far, have been unsubstantial and wanting, almost negligible.

To allow the extension of the transition period, it added, would be tantamount to escape judgment by the constituents of the BARMM on the performance of the latter vis-a-vis its capability to administer a region, and would be a blatant denial of the people’s constitutional right of suffrage to which the BOL has been incorporated into, and thus requiring constitutional amendment or legislative intervention, failing which possible legal redress maybe sought.