Charter change is part of
GRP-MILF peace deal

THE GOVERNMENT AND THE Moro Islamic Liberation Front achieved a major breakthrough with the hammering out of a framework agreement during their last and longest round of peace talks in Kuala Lumpur. As soon as the agreement was announced, social media was all-a-twitter with the new developments that seemed to augur well for a region that has been called, often simultaneously, a land of promise and a land of perdition.

After the initial euphoria, now comes the hard work.

With so many ambitious and well-meaning plans on the table, what the country has to confront now is the need to amend the 1987 Constitution, says a senior official of the MILF.

MILF Vice Chairman for Political Affairs Ghadzali Jaafar told the PCIJ that while the two panels have so far been tiptoeing carefully around the issue of charter change, both sides recognize the need to amend the Constitution in order to make the 2012 framework bear fruit.

“I don’t think it is possible to escape this, hindi pwede na hindi pagusapan ito,” Jaafar told the PCIJ just weeks before the framework agreement was announced. “Kami, sa tingin namin, kahit papaano, darating ang comprehensive agreement sa Kongreso. It will reach Congress. And so, pagdating sa Kongreso, ang pag uusapan diyan, amendment ng certain provisions ng Constitution.”

(We cannot avoid talking about this. We think that whatever happens, the comprehensive agreement will go to Congress. When it gets to Congress, they will need to talk about amending certain provisions of the Constitution.)

Jaafar affirmed this statement again in a telephone interview hours after the framework deal was announced in Kuala Lumpur. “Magiging trabaho ito (constitutional amendment) ng Transition Commission.”

The 2012 MILF framework agreement  itself acknowledges this, although it makes only one mention of an amendment to the Constitution: in the part where the functions of the Transition Commission are spelled out, the TransCom is given the task of working on “proposals to amend the Philippine Constitution for the purpose of accommodating and entrenching in the Constitution the agreements of the parties whenever necessary without derogating from any prior peace agreements.”

But a careful reading of the framework agreement underscores the need for major structural changes in the governance system of the region, well beyond that imagined and framed by the 1987 Constitution which only provided for the creation of an autonomous region for Muslims and Cordillerans.

For example, the framework agreement provides for a ministerial form of government for the Bangsamoro.

As well, the relationship between the national government and the Bangsamoro entity is described as “asymmetric.”

The MILF has consistently pushed for a ministerial form of government instead of an executive form that is currently in use. As Jaafar explains it, it would be similar to a parliamentary form of government as exercised by the United Kingdom, but at the local level.

For example, regional legislators are still elected by district, but the chief minister and his cabinet are selected by the party that wins the most votes in the regional assembly. This is similar to the selection of the Prime Minister and his cabinet by the ruling political party in the United Kingdom.

This is in contrast to the present system where the regional governor is elected by the entire electorate.

“Kung sino ang majority party, they will form a government, and they will elect their chief minister,” Jaafar said yesterday after the announcement of the framework agreement.

Also, the MILF has consistently demanded an asymmetric relationship with the national government, meaning one that is unique in contrast to the existing relationships between the other local government units and Manila. The MILF has envisioned a substate, similar to a state in a federal form of government, in that most of the powers are devolved to the state except for some powers that are exclusively Manila’s.

Both ideas, contained in the 2012 framework agreement, on the surface appear to be outside the boundaries of the 1987 Constitution, which provides for a unitary state that is Presidential or executive in nature.

For these ideas to be incorporated in the basic law or organic act that will be drafted by the Transition Committee, changes must be made to the Philippine Constitution, Jaafar said.

“Yan ang paguusapan sa proposed basic law,” Jaafar said. “It will be embodied there. We will leave it to the drafters of the basic law, which will be ratified later on.”

Government and the MILF had reached a similar meeting of minds in 2008 with the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain, which was aborted by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional. The deal was also severely criticized for government’s apparent failure to make public the contents of the deal prior to its signing. The deal would have committed the Philippine government to an effort to amend the Constitution to allow a Moro substate for the MILF and its followers.

In hindsight, analysts have said that the government could have handled the MOA-AD debacle better if it was upfront with its intentions to amend the Constitution. Unfortunately, the deal was made all the more vulnerable by the unpopularity of then President Gloria Arroyo, whom many suspected of trying to find a way to extend her term, including through the method of charter change.

This time, President Benigno S. Aquino III, riding the crest of popularity, committed his government to a full-court press to have Congress pass the basic law. While skipping any direct mention of the need to amend the Constitution, the President also called on everybody to study the framework agreement carefully, and participate in the debates.

Interestingly, the President and leaders of both chambers of Congress have publicly and repeatedly stressed the need to amend the Constitution, but only its economic provisions.

Other powers, responsibilities, and functions are spelled out in the framework agreement, although many of them are still to be spelled out or clarified.

• Manila retains exclusive powers over defense, external security, foreign policy, common and global market, coinage and monetary policy, citizenship and nationalism, postal service.
• Both parties agree to strengthen the Shariah or Islamic courts; however, “the supremacy of the Shariah and its application shall only be to Muslims.”
• Bangsamoro has the power to create new taxes, subject to “limitations as may be mutually agreed upon by the parties.”
• This revenue generation power “shall include the power to determine tax bases and tax rates guided by the principles of devolution of power, equalization, equity, accountability, administrative simplicity, harmonization, economic efficiency, and fiscal autonomy.”
• “The Bangsamoro shall have a just and equitable share in the revenues generated through the exploration, development or utilization of natural resources obtaining in all the areas/territories, land or water, covered by and within the jurisdiction of the Bangsamoro, in accordance with the formula agreed upon by the parties.”
• Bangsamoro may also create its own auditing body and auditing procedures, without prejudice to the exercise by the Commission on Audit of its regular functions in the region
• Recognition of the basic rights of all Filipinos, including the right to life, dignity, freedom and expression of religion and beliefs, the right of women to meaningful political participation and protection from all forms of violence.