Bangsamoro | |
---|---|
Proposed associated state | |
Bangsamoro Juridical Entity | |
Sovereign state | Philippines |
Demonym(s) | Bangsamoro |
The Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE) was a proposed subdivision in the Philippines spanning portions of Mindanao and Palawan. Conceptualized during the peace talks between the government of the Philippines during the administration of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the BJE was the proposed expanded successor to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
A memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain (MOA-AD) was to be signed between the Philippine government and the MILF on August 4, 2008, but the Supreme Court stopped the signing over concerns of the deal's constitutionality. The high court would rule the MOA-AD unconstitutional on October 4, 2008, which led to the collapse of the peace talks between the two parties.
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) had been fighting for the secession of Bangsamoro territory from the Philippines. Peace talks, which had been on-and-off, between the MILF and the Philippine government began in 1997. [1]
President Joseph Estrada launched a military campaign or an "all out war" against the MILF in 2000 in a bid to resolve the Moro conflict. In contrast, His successor Gloria Macapagal Arroyo pursued negotiation with the MILF although the Philippine military engaged the rebel group in 2003 in Buliok.
Peace talks gained traction in 2003 when Malaysia became involved as a mediator. [1]
As a compromise, the MILF and the Philippine national government had agreed to set up the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE), a subdivision that would be potentially bigger and have more autonomy than the then-extant Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
By November 2007, the two parties have agreed upon the geographical scope of the BJE and projects that a deal could be signed by August 2008. [2]
On July 16, 2008, the MILF and the Philippine government announced that they had finalized a deal and was set to sign a memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain (MOA-AD) on August 5, 2008, in Kuala Lumpur, which would set the framework for the establishment of the BJE. [3]
The proposed MOA-AD between the MILF and the Philippine government was met with opposition from legislators and groups who believed that the deal would eventually result in the secession of parts of Southern Philippines. Likewise, the Lumads also expressed concern that they were not consulted regarding the BJE and that the proposed territory of the BJE would encroach on their own ancestral domains. [4] [5] Leaders of local government units outside the ARMM also expressed concern of losing jurisdiction of some of their areas to the proposed BJE, [6] [7] and opposition figures suspected that President Arroyo was using the BJE as a ploy to extend her tenure in anticipation that the constitution had to be amended to comply with the MOA-AD. [6] [8] During the negotiations, the contents of the MOA-AD were largely confidential, and when it was finalized, there were demands for its content to be publicly disclosed. [6]
The issue was raised to the Supreme Court of the Philippines, which released a temporary restraining order on August 4, 2008, which prevented the signing of the MOA-AD. [3] [9]
Armed clashes between the MILF and the government occurred in North Cotabato and Lanao del Norte on August 7, 2008. [3] According to the Philippine military, they launched a pursuit against MILF commanders Abdullah Makapaar and Ameril Umbra Kato who allegedly attacked civilians.
On September 3, 2008, the government announced it would be dissolving the government peace panel and that the document would not be signed "in light of recent violent incidents committed by lawless violent groups". [3]
On October 3, 2008, the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society (CBCS) organized a rally in Marawi against the Philippine military's operation, which displaced civilians, and alleged that the military collaborated with the vigilante group Ilaga. They also urged the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the United Nations's intervention. [10]
The Supreme Court released on October 14, 2008, a ruling that the proposed MOA-AD was unconstitutional. [11]
MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal expressed that his organization lost trust to the Philippine government since it dissolved the panel even prior to the Supreme Court ruling and that it unilaterally set up disarmament, demobilization and rehabilitation (DDR) as precondition for the restart of peace talks. [12]
The BJE was never realized. Under Arroyo's successor, President Benigno Aquino III, peace talks between the MILF and the Philippine government continued.
The Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process released a statement in September 2012 clarifying that the two parties were not entertaining the concept of the BJE anymore. Under the April 2012 Decision Points on Principles, the two parties agreed on several issues including on working for "the creation of a new autonomous political entity (NPE) in place of the ARMM" [13]
The NPE established would be the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which succeeded the ARMM in 2019 after a successful plebiscite held during the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.
The BARMM's charter is the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL). The BOL as a bill was subjected to scrutiny regarding its constitutionality like the 2008 MOA-AD. [14]
The BJE would at least cover all territories of its intended predecessor, the ARMM. The ARMM territories were considered to be the "core territory" of the proposed BJE. A plebiscite was proposed to be held twelve months after the creation of the BJE for the possible inclusion of additional territories to the BJE. A third area category would be the special intervention areas, which were defined as conflict-affected areas outside the BJE that were subject to special socioeconomic and cultural affirmative action implemented by the Philippine national government. A second plebiscite would be held 25 years after the signing of a comprehensive compact between the MILF and the Philippine government, which would determine if the special intervention areas would be included in the BJE.
In its ruling declaring the MOA-AD unconstitutional, the Supreme Court ruled that the proposed BJE would have been an associated state or "a state in all but name", "as it meets the criteria of a state". It considered the proposed "associative relationship" envisioned between the central government of the Philippines and the BJE unconstitutional. [11] [14] The BJE was also referred to as an autonomous political region [15] and a federal state. [16]
While the MOA-AD served as a framework for the BJE, it was not a comprehensive agreement. The possibility of the amendment of the 1987 Philippine constitution was raised to be able to fulfill the provisions of a then-anticipated peace deal between the MILF and the Philippine government. [16]
Marawi Bishop Edwin dela Peña proposed the BJE to be an Islamic state with sharia law applicable to Muslims. [1]
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front is an Islamist group based in Mindanao, Philippines, seeking an autonomous region of the Moro people from the central government. The group has a presence in the Bangsamoro region of Mindanao, the Sulu Archipelago, Palawan, Basilan, and other neighbouring islands. The armed wing of the group was the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF), although the name of its parent organization, the MILF, was often used to refer to the BIAF. In July, 2018, the Philippine government passed the Bangsamoro Organic Law, giving more autonomy to Muslims. In return, MILF announced that it would disarm its 30,000 fighters.
The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao was an autonomous region of the Philippines, located in the Mindanao island group of the Philippines, that consisted of five predominantly Muslim provinces: Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi. It was the only region that had its own government. The region's de facto seat of government was Cotabato City, although this self-governing city was outside its jurisdiction.
The Moro National Liberation Front is a political organization in the Philippines that was founded in 1972. It started as a splinter group of the Muslim Independence Movement. The MNLF was the leading organization among Moro separatists for about two decades beginning from the 1970s.
The Moro conflict was an insurgency in the Mindanao region of the Philippines which involved multiple armed groups. Peace deals have been signed between the Philippine government and two major armed groups, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), but other smaller armed groups continue to exist. In 2017, the peace council settled around 138 clan conflicts.
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao general elections was held in the ARMM for the regional governor, vice-governor posts and election of members of the ARMM Regional Legislative Assembly on August 11, 2008. The electronic voting used is the first in Philippines election history. The ₱500 million COMELEC's "ARMM balloting" is a pilot program for the 2010 national polling.
Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society, abbreviated as CBCS, is the largest umbrella civil society organization (CSO) composed of 168 Moro non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and peoples organizations (POs) in Mindanao, Philippines.
Abdullah Goldiano Makapaar bin Sabbar, commonly known by his nom de guerreCommander Bravo, was a former Moro rebel in the Philippines who fought under the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) as a commander.
In the late 1960s, an independence movement was founded in Mindanao, Philippines, seeking to separate the Muslim-majority Moro areas from the rest of the country.
Bangsamoro, officially the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, is an autonomous region in the Philippines, located in the southwestern portion of the island of Mindanao.
The Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro is a preliminary peace agreement signed in the Malacañan Palace in Manila, Philippines on October 15, 2012. The agreement calls for the creation of an autonomous political entity named Bangsamoro, replacing the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) which was described by Former President Benigno Aquino III as "a failed experiment".
Ahod Balawag Ebrahim, better known as Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, is a Moro Filipino politician and former rebel leader currently serving as the first chief minister of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
The Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro (CAB) is a final peace agreement signed between the Government of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front on March 27, 2014 at the Malacañang Palace in Manila. Under the agreement, the Islamic separatists would turn over their firearms to a third party, which would be selected by the rebels and the Philippine government. The MILF agreed to decommission its armed wing, the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF). In return, the government would establish an autonomous Bangsamoro. Power sharing was a central point to the autonomy redesign.
The Bangsamoro Organic Law, also known as the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), and officially designated as Republic Act No. 11054, is a Philippine law that provided for the establishment of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
An autonomous region of the Philippines is a first-level administrative division that has the authority to control a region's culture and economy. The Constitution of the Philippines allows for two autonomous regions: in the Cordilleras and in Muslim Mindanao. Currently, Bangsamoro, which largely consists of the Muslim-majority areas of Mindanao, is the only autonomous region in the country.
The 1976 Tripoli Agreement was signed on December 23, 1976 in Tripoli, Libya by Carmelo Z. Barbero, representing the Government of the Philippines and Nur Misuari of the Moro National Liberation Front. The agreement defined autonomous administrative divisions for Muslims in the southern Philippines, the establishment of an autonomous government, judicial system for Sharia law and special security forces, and the observance of a ceasefire. The autonomous region was to have its own economic system, including an Islamic bank.
The Jeddah Accord was signed on January 3–4, 1987 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia by Aquilino Pimentel Jr., representing the Government of the Philippines and Nur Misuari of the Moro National Liberation Front. The two panels agreed upon the continued discussion of the proposal of the grant of full autonomy to Mindanao, Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and Palawan subject to democratic processes.
The 1996 Final Peace Agreement, also called the Jakarta Accord was signed on September 2, 1996 in Manila, Philippines by Manuel Yan, representing the Government of the Philippines and Nur Misuari of the Moro National Liberation Front. The culmination of four years of peace talks, the agreement established mechanisms designed to bring about the full implementation of the 1976 Tripoli Agreement.
The 2019 Bangsamoro autonomy plebiscite was a two-part plebiscite held in Mindanao, Philippines, that ratified the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) and replaced the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) with the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), as well as the scope of the said region.
Separatism in the Philippines refers to bids for secession or greater autonomy for certain areas in the Philippines. The scope of the article includes such efforts since the Philippine Revolution both currently and historical.
Eduard Uy Guerra is a Filipino architect and politician who is a current member of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority Parliament and the Bangsamoro Minister of Public Works