Proposed BBL revisions for final consolidation

MEMBERS of the Mindanao Indigenous Assembly (Mipla) for the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) said the legislative proposal they created during the three-day deliberation on proposed revisions on the recent BBL draft will be submitted to Congress after final consolidation.

After the assembly of 400 Indigenous Peoples (IPs) from the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) that closed at the Mergrande Ocean Resort on Friday, Mipla-panel of peace spokesperson Timuay Santos Unsad said there were seven outputs derived from different groups of IPs who attended the assembly.

"We divided the 400 IPs into seven groups and asked them to discuss and note the concerns they have regarding the BBL draft. With the seven outputs, most of the concerns listed are common to each group," Unsad said.

One of the concerns, he said, is the preservation of IPs' identity inside the implementation of the proposed BBL as the draft implies that the identification of the people inside the scope of this law will be called the Bangsamoro.

Unsad said this will affect the advocacy of the tribes to strengthen their culture as they have to live under the rule of this new law.

Another concern, he added, is the protection of the IPs' ancestral domains inside ARMM which is the core area of the proposed BBL.

"Tribal leaders want to have full control over the ancestral domains inside the core area because without our lands we cannot longer be called the indigenous people anymore," Unsad said.

Although there is an existing law that protects the rights of these IP communities, the concern on this is whether the BBL will recognize the implementation of this law as it will be crafting its own rules and regulations for its own legislation.

Indigenous Cultural Communities and Indigenous Peoples chairperson Nancy Catamco, for her part, said the Ipra Law (Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997) has to be included inside the BBL draft and should not be asserted by the future cabinet members of the soon Bangsamoro government.

"If we see Ipra Law inside the draft then that's the time we can be assured that the rights of the IPs will be respected and recognized under BBL," Catamco said.

With the pronouncement of Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella on Tuesday, August 29, that the passage of BBL is not part of the priority bills, legislative staff Ginn Goralde said IPs should not worry that their legislative proposal will not be processed in the Congress.

Goralde said the passage of BBL still has to go through many processes especially that President Rodrigo Duterte is also working on his agenda on federalism.

"While waiting for the Congress to take course actions on BBL, including the approval of the requested revisions of IPs, rest assured that the government is continuously working hard to provide priority projects for IPs through the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples," he said.

The legislative proposal, Unsad said, will be submitted to the Congress within this month through House Member Nancy Catamco.