Peace road’s final mile

The elections next year are significant not only because midterm polls are considered a referendum on the incumbent President’s performance, but the results will determine the shape of his final three years in office.

Next year will also mark the first polls in the Bangsamoro autonomous region; an event considered the culmination of the peace process.

Despite the establishment of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, a Transition Authority is currently running the affairs of the autonomous government.

Bangsamoro comprises six provinces, three cities, 116 municipalities, and 2,590 barangays, with a total population of four million.

As outlined in the Bangsamoro Electoral Code, the Parliament will consist of 80 members, with 40 seats for party representatives, 32 for district representatives, and eight for sectoral representatives, each serving three years per term.

District representatives will be elected by majority vote, thus requiring the registration of voters.

Candidates for district representative should be registered voters in the districts they seek to represent and must have resided there for at least one year.

Forming the legislature is pivotal to bringing normalcy to the erstwhile restive region.

It will be the most promising prospect for stability in generations, as it will be the final milestone in ending the threats from various peace spoilers.

Regional security experts say the Philippines will not be able to fully dedicate its armed forces to external and territorial defense without a stable Bangsamoro.

Failure in the Bangsamoro would mean the country would continue to face simultaneous threats to its internal stability and external sovereignty.

The economic momentum would also be at risk without predictability in the region.

A coherent Philippines is the only way the nation can fully take advantage of the demographic and economic opportunities available to it.

This was the future that former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. pursued as he made good on his promise to come up with a credible substitute version of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) in 2015 with the amendment of 80 percent of the provisions.

The original BBL aimed to create a substate with greater powers and resources than the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which legal experts said conflicted with the provisions of the Constitution. The government and the MILF agreed on the law under a historic deal signed in March 2014.

However, in June 2015, Marcos rejected the bill, saying it was unconstitutional and would “lead us to perdition.”

Among the changes Marcos introduced was the composition of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority.

“What we tried to do was to make the membership of the BTA more inclusive. We tried to include all the stakeholders we identified during the hearings,” he said.

Also deleted were some of the provisions that the House of Representatives omitted from its version that resulted in the MILF rejecting the version as “50 percent bad.”

The BBL was set to be passed, but then the Mamasapano massacre of 44 elite Special Action Force police officers happened.

The tragedy transpired during the commando unit’s mission to arrest terrorists in the MILF stronghold of Maguindanao.

The MILF said the operation violated coordination mechanisms under the peace process. The encounter drew public outrage and sparked strong opposition to the bill.

Through all the challenges, Marcos stood firm in making the Bangsamoro law equitable and following the Constitution, which was the correct move that ushered in the prospect of lasting peace and stability that the nation is on the cusp of achieving.