Investors ‘assess’ Mindanao

Hundreds of business leaders and investors gathered in Manila in a recent public consultation on Mindanao and urged President Aquino to be “pragmatic” and stop insisting on the approval of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) in its present form.

The consultation was sponsored by the Regional Board of Investments of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (RBI-ARMM) to promote the region’s industries and review the 2014 ARMM Investment Priorities Plan (IPP).

The business leaders noted the continued unpo-pularity of the proposed BBL and urged the President to consider a version that would be far different from the one crafted between Malacañang and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that envisions the creation of a Bangsamoro political entity.

Based on surveyed sentiments of the business leaders in Mindanao, the BBL’s rejection may have little effect on the economic prospects of the Muslim-dominated regions in Mindanao, which are collectively known as the Autonomous Region in Muslim in Mindanao (ARMM).

An official noted that despite uncertainty on the BBL’s fate, investors and business leaders in the province of Maguindanao remained confident in the business opportunities in the region.

Former Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno, now an economics professor at the University of the Philippines, said that right now, even with limited knowledge, more Filipinos disapprove of the BBL in a recent survey of Social Weather Stations.

Most of those surveyed were not hopeful that the proposed Bangsamoro government would bring peace in its core territories or that the government would benefit from the peace talks with the secessionist MILF.

Lawyer Ishak Mastura, chairman of RBOI, said consultations are being made with businessmen in the ARMM as part of the regional government’s objective of increased participation of stakeholders in the planning of the region’s economic development.

The 2014 IPP is a tool for industrial development, economic growth and consists of specific economic activities that are based on industry studies, plans and road maps.

Mastura said the BBL is expected to further improve the investment climate in the region’s five provinces.

Unfortunately, said Diokno, nobody knows precisely the final form of the BBL and how much would it cost the Filipino taxpayers.

“The process is ongoing and the final version of the BBL is yet to take shape. The general consensus is that the BBL, in its present form, has several constitutionally flawed provisions,” he said.

“The question is what would Mr. Aquino do if he were faced with a version of the BBL that is different from what he submitted to Congress? Will he veto or sign it? Will the President go against the desire of his ‘bosses’, speaking through their representatives in Congress?” Diokno said.

He said the best way to know the preferences of the people for a measure that would change the way national wealth and resources are going to be distributed among the country’s political units is through a national referendum.

“If Filipinos in a national referendum reject the modified BBL, then the President should veto it. He should listen to his ‘bosses.’ Giving his plummeting public approval and trust ratings, ignoring the disapproval of bosses would be too risky,” he added.

Diokno said Aquino, with about a year in office, can ill-afford to be tied down to time-consuming legal battles.

“With time running out, Mr. Aquino might do some kind of risk analysis.

What version of the BBL can he ‘persuade’ Congress to pass and at what cost? Is this version acceptable to the MILF? If the version that Congress is inclined to pass is unacceptable to the MILF, then why spend so much time and money to have it passed? The ultimate objective is to pass a law that will work—that is acceptable to all parties concerned, that has an excellent chance of ensuring enduring peace in the region, and that can withstand constitutional challenges in the Supreme Court,” he said.

A law that has little chance of being implemented and cannot guarantee long-lasting peace in Mindanao is a mere scrap of paper, Diokno added. “The President has many other important things to worry about in his final days in office: the Freedom of Information Act, the rationalization of fiscal incentives, the deteriorating public infrastructure, the insufficient and unreliable power supply, and so on.

“As in the famous song of country and pop superstar Kenny Rogers, Mr. Aquino should know when to fold, when to hold, and when to walk away,” Diokno said. Luis Leoncio