BAGUIO CITY – A Commissioner of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) cited existing challenges and issues confronting the operation of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) which significantly affects the implementation of their desired projects and the delivery of basic services to the people.
Lawyer Mohammad Al-Amin M. Julkipli, NCMF Commissioner, cited that the power of central government, especially the President, goes beyond general supervision. The President can directly withhold, suspend, or reduce the amounts of grants and financial aids which is tantamount to control, and this is oppressive and punitive.
“The policy thrust of Republic Act (RA) 9054 or the Expanded ARMM on the representation of the region in national/central government agencies, including the judiciary and government-owned and controlled corporations, were never realized,” Commissioner Julkipli stressed.
He added that there is no inter-governmental principle for the legislature and harmonization of national and regional policies, and similarly, there is also nothing in the present ARMM system on inter-facing of constitutional bodies.
According to Commissioner Julkipli, the current autonomy set-up does not provide for mechanisms of inter-governmental administrative conflict resolution.
Under the principles of power-sharing of the regional autonomy scheme, Commissioner Julkipli said decentralization of powers, and not mere decentralization of administration, should be in place and the principle of subsidiarity means that matters on should be handled by the smallest, lowest or least centralized competent authority.
Further, he added that political decisions should be taken up at the local level if possible, rather than by a central authority, saying that intervention on the part of the national government should be kept to a minimum.
The NCMF official underscored the problematic devolution of powers in the ARMM because the regional government lacks the fiscal autonomy and that the regional government is also in search for identity due to a failed regional local government code, conflicts from double autonomy, resources of local governments are not translated to community development, and local governments are allegedly unresponsive to community needs.
Commissioner Julkipli said the shortcomings of the ARMM could be used by the Cordillera Regional Development Council (RDC-CAR) in crafting the desired Cordillera autonomy law that will avoid the problems already being experienced by the ARMM, making it in a better position to implement an autonomy law that is acceptable to the people in the region.
Julkipli noted it is important for crafters of the Cordillera autonomy bill to take into consideration the incorporation of inter-governmental relations between the central government, and the regional government and the local government units, so that the law will explicitly define the specific functions of each entity in order to achieve a more realistic decentralization. By Dexter A. See
