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Gssplogra Christopher Flake Reaction Paper: Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao

The passage discusses the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) established by Republic Act 11054 to bring peace to Mindanao and integrate Muslim people. However, the author has reservations as previous peace agreements did not stop violence due to splinter groups emerging. While BARMM aims to boost prosperity with autonomous powers and budgets, questions remain around including non-Muslim Lumads and protecting their rights. Overall, the author hopes BARMM succeeds but is cautious given past failures to achieve a lasting peace in Mindanao.

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Christopher Flake
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229 views2 pages

Gssplogra Christopher Flake Reaction Paper: Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao

The passage discusses the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) established by Republic Act 11054 to bring peace to Mindanao and integrate Muslim people. However, the author has reservations as previous peace agreements did not stop violence due to splinter groups emerging. While BARMM aims to boost prosperity with autonomous powers and budgets, questions remain around including non-Muslim Lumads and protecting their rights. Overall, the author hopes BARMM succeeds but is cautious given past failures to achieve a lasting peace in Mindanao.

Uploaded by

Christopher Flake
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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GSSPLOGRA

Christopher Flake
Reaction paper: Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao

Republic Act 11054 (An Act Providing for the Organic Law for the Bangsamoro
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) enacted in July 23, 2017 created the so-called
Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. Its passage is supposed to bring peace in
Mindanao. Particularly, it is supposed to be the vehicle for the final integration of the Muslim
people in Mindanao to the national life of the Republic of the Philippines.

I would like to answer the second question first. Would the law aid in lessening conflict
and violence in Mindanao? I certainly hope so. This is the primary purpose in enacting the law,
i.e., to finally bring peace to Mindanao. Not wanting to throw the monkey-wrench, I am keeping
my mind open and not putting all my hopes in the law. The reason for this reservation is not hard
to find. We had been here before. When Cory became president, the first olive branch was extended
to the Muslim rebels in Mindanao, then headed by Nur Misuari of the Moro National Liberation
Front (MNLF). Much fanfare was and celebration were made with the signing of the peace accord
and the enactment of RA 6734, the organic law creating the Autonomous Region in Muslim
Mindanao (ARMM). But even before the ink in the peace accord dried up, Hashim Salamat and
his people bolted out of the MNLF and established the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and
continued the rebellion. So, the fighting went on. Fast-foreword to the present. When the
comprehensive agreement on the Bangsamoro between the GRP and MILF, back in 2014, no
sooner than the celebration ended that other members of the MILF bolted out. Ameril Umbra Kato,
a former commander in the MILF, formed his own group called the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom
Fighters (BIFF) went his own way. Please do not get me wrong, I want the BARMM to succeed,
however, I am not holding my breath. A cursory reading of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL)
would raise some questions. For instance, why are non-muslim Lumads included in the BARMM?
Don’t they deserve a separate agreement? What happens to the rights of these Lumads under the
IPRA law knowing that then IPRA law was never implimented in the former ARMM? Questions
like these must be addressed at some point.

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Will the BARMM bring prosperity to the region? Another million dollar question. I
certainly hope so also. The BOL contain provisions for the automatic appropriations of the budget
of the BARMM government. It is likewise guaranteed 40% of the government’s share of the taxes
collected therein as its IRA. It is given major decision-making powers with regards to the
exploitation of mineral resources found within its territorial boundaries. It was given very wide
and far-reaching legislative powers that were not given to provinces. In my inexpert opinion, the
BARMM has all the wherewithal for economic take-off.

References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comprehensive_Agreement_on_the_Bangsamoro
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangsamoro_Islamic_Freedom_Fighters
Republic Act No. 11054. “An Act Providing for the Organic Law for the Bangsamoro
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, repealing for the Purpose Republic Act No. 6734,
Entitled "An Act Providing for An Organic Act for the Autonomous Region in Muslim
Mindanao,"
Republic Act No. 6734, Entitled "An Act Providing for An Organic Act for the Autonomous
Region in Muslim Mindanao.”

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