About a fortnight ago there was excitement among residents of some towns of Maguindanao del Norte. A plebiscite was scheduled by the Commission on Elections for next month, September, that will ask them whether or not they favor the creation of new towns out of existing ones.

Earlier, Bangsamoro Autonomy Acts 53, 54 and 55 were enacted by the Interim Regional Parliament (Bangsamoro Transition Authority) creating, respectively, the municipalities of Nuling, Datu Sinsuat Balabaran and Sheik Abas Hamzaall in Maguindanao del Norte, and as required by law, this should be with the consent of the affected residents through a plebiscite.

The splitting of political geographical divisions is principally a political move. It is normally to serve a political interest. The Americans have a word for it — gerrymandering. It is a strategy to dilute the voting power of the opposition, or “packing” the opposition party’s voting power in one district to reduce their voting power in other areas. Politicos in the affected towns who felt disadvantaged by the split went to the Supreme Court (SC) to question its constitutionality.

Reports had it the Supreme Court struck down the law as void because it “contained unconstitutional provisions that excluded voters of the mother localities from the political exercise.” It ruled “that the qualified voters from both the new and mother municipalities should be included in the plebiscite.”

By a long shot that will assuage the disappointment of the proponents, the law may contain a separability clause that will save the entire law from becoming null. We can only guess that the other provisions remain valid and an amendatory law could perhaps cure the defect in the original law. The sponsors could look into this angle.

The consent of the residents, of both the mother towns and the ones from which they will be carved, is imperative. This is basic and elementary. The Members of the Regional Parliament should not have overlooked this principle. After all, democracy dictates that the will of the people affected by the alteration of the status quo should first be sought.

The BARMM government had no choice. It came out with an official statement accepting the SC decision.

The Court likewise ordered the Comelec to stop all preparations for a plebiscite that was supposed to be conducted had the law been upheld. When the Court sees that the exercise of autonomous power crosses the boundaries laid down by law it strikes it down as illegal.

This is a lesson for the Bangsamoro Transition Authority and the Regional Parliament that will come into being after the 2025 elections. Their autonomous powers should be exercised wisely and sparingly. There are parameters that should not be crossed. They can stretch out their powers but only to a certain extent. They should conduct thorough and expansive research about its legality before enacting it. It will dent its capability and image as a new governmental system worthy of emulation by the rest of the country if the laws they pass are declared illegal upon question. It will unnecessarily pinch its political stock.

Throwback. In 2008, the Supreme Court in Sema vs Comelec declared unconstitutional the law (RA 9054) that granted the Regional Legislative Assembly of ARMM (forebear of BARMM) the power to create provinces. But it was a razor-thin vote with eight justices concurring with the ponencia of then Justice Antonio Carpio, six dissenting and one abstention. The issue raised was the creation of the new province of Shariff Kabungsuan. The High Tribunal, in sum, ruled that it is only Congress that has the power to create a province.

Some view this latest episode as a hiccup in the journey towards genuine autonomy. There will be more challenges to the exercise of its autonomous powers as it wriggles its way towards institutionalization.

After all, the present autonomy is a work still in progress. It being a new experience it will help shape the kind of autonomy the Moros fought for in a pyrrhic struggle.

amb_mac_lanto@yahoo.com