BARMM comes to life

In Maguindanao, gongs, percussion kulintang ensemble and singkil dance will be played. Festivities will fill the air in the coming days. And colorful cultural flags and buntings of resplendent colors will adore the houses and streets. Azan or call for prayer will reverberate in mosques extolling Almighty Allah and expressing thanks for the birth of a new dawn for Moros who have been long trapped in the quagmire of social conflict and neglect of their basic social and political needs by imperial Manila.

Some say the delivery is literally from a caesarean operation after so much blood has spilled in pyrrhic battles. It represents the sum total of their dreams.

But there will be no unanimity of celebration given that Sulu and Cotabato City have made their position very clear — while they don’t question the nobility of purpose and raison d’etre of the new Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), but for constitutional and technical reason and yielding to the voice of the residents they want to be excluded from the territorial coverage of the BARMM. Observers say politics and tribal schism are the core and unspoken reason for their dissent.

Last Friday the 80-member Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) that will oversee the interim governance of the region was sworn to office by President Digong. A cursory look at the membership will tell us that it is an amalgam of members who came from varied stations in life, cultural and social background but welded by the common hope for peace and better tomorrow.

It is apparent that there was a feeble attempt to make it truly representative of the different tribes and sectors although it is conceded that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Maguindanaoans constitute the majority.

But this is not surprising after all the MILF mujahideen martyrs provided the firewood for the fire of struggle (after the Moro National Liberation Front sign a peace pact with government in 1996).

As conceded almost unanimously, the MILF will provide the leadership of the new regional government with Chair Murad Ebrahim as the interim Chief Minister. The membership is, however, sprinkled with few Maranaw and Tausug names. Some are known personalities who are civic or cultural leaders, scholars, alims in the region, while others are less known or unknown and still others are the rebel leaders “came in from the cold” so to speak.

The number of other ethnic tribes is negligible but this should not be a reason for disgruntling given the fact that the bloodshed in the crusade for autonomy was that of the three major tribes. You cannot be a bystander and spectator in a ferocious struggle and expect to reap any benefit therefrom. We call this in law, quantum meruit or services rendered. That would not be fair. This is not to say, however, that they should be shut out totally from the peace dividends and concomitant development and progress that maybe derived from the new entity.

Meanwhile, watchers of the saga for autonomy and non-government organization (NGO) heaved a collective sigh of relief and they showed unusual interest in the selection and vetting of those who will temporarily manage the regional government. Indeed the task of the BTA is crucial and will spell the success or failure of the BARMM.

A cursory over the list of the members of the BTA will easily tell one that it is a feeble attempt to make it representative of the various sectors composing the region.

Earlier, some NGO had expressed concern over the manner of vetting the members of the BTA. One Bangsamoro Movement asked the President “to be fair in appointing…members.”

They remind that there are 13 tribes, excluding Lumads and non-Muslims, in the region who should be represented.

They warned that “…people to be appointed at the BTA should have capacity and experiences with impeccable integrity otherwise the BARMM will suffer the same mistakes like the failed ARMM.”

The burden of those who will govern temporarily is heavy. The ghosts of the martyrs who gave their life to the struggle will haunt them if they falter and fail to deliver the services and promise of the BARMM. The law of the Maranaw murka or karma is there to get back at them.