Focus on economic goals for Bangsamoro—DOF

Lawmakers should take into account the end goal of attaining economic self-sufficiency and sustainable development for the proposed Bangsamoro region to ensure fiscal autonomy and lasting peace in crafting the fundamental law creating this new autonomous political entity in Mindanao, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said.

Dominguez said that like the rest of the country, the fundamental requirements of sustained growth such as hard infrastructure, human capital investment, new communications technologies and efficient administrative systems should also apply in the creation of the Bangsamoro autonomous region.

“Fiscal autonomy is earned. It should be attained with the end goal of economic self-sufficiency and sustainable development.

The provisions of the proposed law must ensure that in order to win public support,” Dominguez said at the Senate hearing on the creation of a basic law for the Bangsamoro Autonomous region.

The hearing chaired by Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri was jointly conducted by the Senate committees on local government (subcommittee on the Bangsamoro Basic Law [BBL]; constitutional amendments and revision of codes; ways and means; and finance.

Dominguez, who was invited as one of the resource persons at the hearing, said any proposed funding scheme for the Bangsamoro region should be “programmatic, transparent, performance-based and phased” to conform with the criteria of modern governance and win broad public support for the BBL.

“Let me begin by expressing full support for the formation of a Bangsamoro Autonomous Region through the enactment of a basic law.

This will enable the achievement of a more substantial autonomy arrangement that meets the expectation of the Islamic community in Mindanao. In turn, this should be a major step towards achieving sustainable prosperity for all communities in Mindanao,” said Dominguez in his opening remarks at the hearing.

He pointed out that the stable economic fundamentals and strong growth momentum that the country enjoys today did not happen overnight but was attained through three decades of fiscal discipline, with the economy going through difficult structural adjustment programs to work down what was once a crushing debt load. “Today, our people are ready to reap the rewards of long years of sustained fiscal discipline.

Our credit ratings are at their best and our financial system is sound,” Dominguez said.