INSTITUTIONAL BARRIERS OF MORAL GOVERNANCE: FROM ARMM TO BARMM

- NASHIBA G. DIDA-AGUN

“Mere political reform will not cure the manifold evils which now afflict society. There
requires a social reform, a domestic reform, an individual reform.” - Samuel Smiles

In order to understand the ARMM, it is crucial to understand the Moro conflict

from past to present. Only a perusal of the past can we be able to decipher the need to
include a constitutional provision on the creation of an autonomous region in the 1987
Constitution. Article X Section 15 of the Constitution provided for the creation of
autonomous regions in Muslim Mindanao and in the Cordilleras consisting of provinces,
cities, municipalities, and geographical areas sharing common and distinctive historical
and cultural heritage, economic and social structures, and other relevant characteristics
within the framework of the Constitution and the national sovereignty as well as
territorial integrity of the Republic of the Philippines. This paved the way for the
enactment of RA6734 on August 1, 1989 and further amended by RA9054 in 2001.
These laws gave life to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Many years of armed conflict have left the ARMM, with a population of about
3.25 million residents1, the least socioeconomically developed region in the Philippines,
and having its poverty incidence 48.7%, which is more than double the country’s
average 19.7%2. After two decades of existence and past six regional chief executives,
the ARMM, as an embodiment of the sentiments and aspirations of the Bangsamoro 3
people, has failed miserably. Former President Benigno Aquino summarized the two-
decade old ARMM as a failed experiment. “(The) ARMM is a failed experiment in terms
of the aspirations of the Filipino people to give justice to our Muslim brothers.” On July
26, 2018, President Rodrigo Duterte, signed the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL),
which paved the way for the establishment of a new autonomous political entity in the
area, the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

Now, the Bangsamoro Transition Authority headed by Chief Minister Ahod

Balawag Ibrahim underscores moral reformation in the bureaucracy through strict
adherence to MORAL GOVERNANCE – a policy championed by the new Bangsamoro
government.

THE MINDANAO PROBLEM

The armed conflict in Muslim Mindanao has received a lot of international

attention during the last decades as recurrent guerrilla warfare, anti-terrorist support
from the US-military and bumpy peace processes have highlighted the historic deeply-
1
1 National Statistics Office, March 2013
2
National Statistical Coordination Board, 2012
3
Bangsamoro is the name of the Muslims in Mindanao and also the name of the new autonomy in Muslim
Mindanao that will be created in 2015 if the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law is accepted by the Philippine Parliament.
rooted conflict in the region. While secessionist tendencies had surfaced in the late
1960s, the contemporary insurgency started with full force in the beginning of the 1970s
after two highly antagonizing events sparked the armed conflict. Respectively, those
were the Jabidah massacre in 1968 and when President Ferdinand E. Marcos declared
martial law within Mindanao in 19724

THE FAILED EXPERIMENT

The ARMM has from the start been characterized by systemic malfunctions,
rebellion, non-implementation of agreements and laws, armed violence, insecurity, non-
delivery of basic services, corruption, disbelief as well as weak structures of autonomy,
rule of law and democracy.5 Malacañan has labeled ARMM as a ‘failed experiment’ and
only pushed the region further down the drain of infamy. A closer look on the problems
and issues in the bureaucracy would show that the problem is not solely the doing of the
people in ARMM but with a shared blame to those the “guided the experiment.”

At an institutional level, ARMM faced a great deal of issues that has contributed
to the image that it acquired through the years. Corruption among politicians, political
dynasties and nepotism, limited access to basic services particularly health and
education, Financial constraints and dependence on external sources of funds,
including the IRA, Weak leadership, Bureaucratic practices and the lack of
transparency, and Interference of the national government in the institution of the
ARMM and its elections are but a few of the challenges that ail the autonomous
government. Most of these issues were attempted to be remedied in the Bangsamoro
Organic Law by providing safeguards and introducing a new form of government that
would ensure a more transparent and responsive public servants.

THE BANGSAMORO ORGANIC LAW

On 26 July 2018, President Duterte signed the Bangsamoro Organic Law after
two decades of negotiations between the government of the Philippines and the largest
insurgent group in Muslim Mindanao, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The
Bangsamoro Organic Law legally codifies the Comprehensive Agreement on the
Bangsamoro signed by the MILF and the Philippine government on 27 March 2014.

The Bangsamoro Organic Law is the latest and most ambitious effort to end the
decades-long Moro insurgency in Muslim Mindanao by recognizing the Moro
community’s rights for self-determination within the Philippine state through the
establishment of a regional autonomous government. It offers the best chance at finally
delivering a political solution to the alienation of the Moro community from the Philippine
state; ending the resulting deeply-rooted insurgency that has become a main
preoccupation of the Armed Forces of the Philippines; and seriously degrading the
mutually beneficial ties between Moro insurgent and terrorist groups and regional and

4
(Human Development Network 2005, p. 66; The World Bank 2005, p. 2
5
http://www.peace.ax/images/stories/pdf/Report_2-2015_Blomberg_webb.pdf
global terrorist groups that came to the forefront in the devastating siege of Marawi City
last year. The Bangsamoro Organic Law delegates a much wider range of powers and
fiscal capabilities to BARMM than earlier failed attempts to establish an effective
regional government in Muslim Mindanao6.

In socio-cultural and political terms, Muslim Mindanao presents a very good case
for a truly regional autonomous government. In socio-economic terms, it provides a
fraught case for effective self-government. The ARMM is the poorest by far of the
sixteen regions in the Philippines and Lanao Del Sur that accounts for over a quarter of
the ARMM population is the poorest of the 81 provinces in the country. In 2015, Lanao
Del Sur was the only province where a majority of families, 66.3 per cent, were under
the national, regionally-adjusted poverty line 7.

The newly formed Bangsamoro Autonomous Region has been working on

organizing government and ensuring peace. The past year has been more focused on
organizing the government. In the present, MILF Leadership handles the reins of power
now in the new Bangsamoro Government and the administration emphasized the need
for moral recovery of civil servants in the government service. During a speech in
Ankara, the Chief Minister sought help for transformation of a revolutionary movement
into a government institution8.

MORAL GOVERNANCE IN BARMM

The Interim Chief Minister has encouraged the Bangsamoro people to participate
and be proactive in the attainment of Moral Governance by reporting the performance,
or the lack thereof, of regional and local officials. Being a government founded on the
sacrifices of the Bangsamoro and the blood of the martyrs, this is a chance for the
Bangsamoro people to aspire once again for a better tomorrow. The members of the
BTA, cabinet and other high ranking officials were sworn to office with an oath before
Allah not to commit any wrong doing in the performance of their functions. This is a
commitment that they gave to God and the people.

This Moral Governance became two-pronged. As the Bangsamoro people

supports the new government, they also have a very high expectation from it. Then, the
provisions of the Bangsamoro Organic Law came into effect. The phasing out of
employees started. Employees got separated from the government service. Families
have lost their source of income. Then, new people came into the picture. Those MILF
members and supporters are now trying to make their way into the system – to be part
of the bureaucracy. People who have volunteered and helped the cause of the
Mujahideen expected something more from the Bangsamoro Government and the MILF
leadership. And now, the administration is caught in a limbo – to reinstate the former
employees of ARMM or accommodate the new aspirants in the government service.
Either way, someone will lose a chance to put food in the family table.
6
https://www.iseas.edu.sg/images/pdf/[email protected]
7
2017 Philippine Statistical Yearbook. Quezon City: Philippine Statistics Authority, October 2017, p.
8
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/bangsamoro-chief-minister-focuses-on-moral-governance-/1674898
With limited employees due to the phasing out, government services became limited
also. With few professionals, technocrats, and trained employees in the system, the
transactions in the government slowed down. Few lapses every now and then. Now,
can the Chief Minister trust the former government employees of ARMM which was
dubbed as a failed experiment or gamble and put his trust to the new breed of public
servants?

POLICY RECOMMENDATION

The morality of a person cannot solely be measured by his faith, his affiliations,
or his family. Morality is personal. As an institution, it is so hard if not impossible to
ascertain the moral uprightness of the employees. To ensure changes in the civil
service, laws should be passed, laws should be followed, laws should not be selective,
and laws should be fair. In line with the policy of moral governance, the following
recommendations are humbly offered:
1. Strengthen and reinforce existing laws on corruption;
2. Ensure accountability at all levels of the bureaucracy;
3. Pass laws that would govern the Bangsamoro people and not merely focused on
the transition period; and
4. Encourage more Bangsamoro professionals to work in the BARMM;