By Teng Lauban Datu
Cotabato City Bureau Chief .
The Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process has urged members of civil society to go over the Bangsamoro Organic Law in its entirety as this will be the key in developing a better appreciation of the landmark measure.
“Please read it. This is the best way to understand it,” Opapp Undersecretary and GPH Implementing Panel Chair Nabil Tan said in his remarks at the “Civil Society Organization’s Assessment and Planning Workshop” held recently at the New Dawn Plus Hotel in Cagayan de Oro City.
The two-day forum was organized by the Initiatives for Peace and Development in Mindanao and supported by the United Nations Development Fund.
Tan said there are still apprehensions regarding the law because many still have not seen its actual content.
“Get hold of the law. So there will be no misconceptions about it,” he said as he highlighted key provisions of the BOL covering the areas of governance, employment, resource-sharing, revenue collections, and peace and security.
Tan said among the major economic features of the BOL is the Block Grant, a five-percent share of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Barmm) from the total national revenue collections of the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
The fund, he said, will be automatically appropriated to the Bangsamoro government and will be reflected in the General Appropriations Act.
On the concern of what will happen to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm), Tan said once the BOL is ratified by residents during the plebiscite in Jan. 21, 2019, the Armm will be replaced by the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao or Barmm.
“If they vote for yes, the Armm will be abolished and become the Barmm,” he said, explaining the yes vote will have to be made by the region as whole. “But if they vote no, they will remain in the Armm.”
The Armm is composed of the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi.
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