The Congress of the Philippines closed the 16th Congress on 3 February 2016 without adopting the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), which would have implemented the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), the peace agreement between President Benigno Aquino's administration and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). This proposed law aims to give greater autonomy to the Bangsamoro and end the armed conflict between government forces and the MILF. In this interview with WPP, Jasmin Nario-Galace of the Center for Peace Education in Miriam College, Secretariat of the Women Engaged in Action on 1325 (WE Act 1325) discusses the non-passage of the BBL and next steps for the peace movement in the Philippines.
"After the signing of the CAB, women from civil society organizations consulted women on the ground on what they wanted included in the BBL. These consultations were marked with education sessions on peace and women’s participation. These consultations were led by WE Act 1325 and its partner-members Nisa ul haqq fi Bangsamoro, Unyphilwomen and Teduray Lambangian Women’s Organization who all worked with Conciliation Resources in ensuring women’s meaningful participation in the Bangsamoro. The result of these consultations cum capacity sharing that reached almost 3,000 women were collated and submitted to the members of the negotiating panels as well as the members of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) which was tasked by the President to draft the proposed law. The BTC integrated many of these proposals from the women in the version it submitted to the President. When President Aquino submitted the proposed law to Congress, the women developed another set of proposals emanating from the consultations to ensure that women’s perspectives are infused into the law. They offered to the lawmakers their vision of a peaceful Bangsamoro and how to achieve it. They offered their perspectives on arms control and decommissioning, policing, conflict resolution, human rights, community security and transitional justice. Most of all, they lobbied for language that will ensure their rights to meaningful participation and protection from violence.
Women did not just conquer the Congress’ lobby halls. They were a constant and strong presence in public actions, school forums, and meetings with other women in community media and lawmaking. They continued to speak with community women to learn more of their perspectives, interest and needs. They began to share capacities with women on the ground on political participation so that community women will be prepared to participate when governance mechanisms are set up after the passage of the BBL.
But alas, the 16th Congress was adjourned without passing the proposed law."
"There are many possible causes. One will be the deeply-held prejudices the majority hold against the Moros in Mindanao. These deeply-held biases surfaced and widened after the Mamasapano incident, the police operations aimed at capturing terrorist Marwan, and which killed 44 members of the Police. The Mamasapano incident angered the public and deepened their fear of and biases against the Moro people. These biases were further fuelled in media, including social media.
Another will be the lack of public support for the proposed law indicated in research-surveys. This could be because of the lack of knowledge about the BBL. Mamasapano, also, has deeply influenced these pubic surveys. What people know about the BBL is normally from radio commentators who largely are not supportive either. There are those who contend that the proposed law is unconstitutional even if illustrious lawyers have sworn by its constitutionality. This lack of public support could have shaped Congress’ attitude towards the proposed law. Public opinion against the law could have led to the parliamentarians’ chronic absenteeism (the House had difficulty mustering a quorum) and indifference towards it. After all, elections are just around the corner and it is posited, that they are afraid to go against the tide. Another possible explanation would be that of the political-economic interests of many politicians that lord over the interests of a few to correct historical injustices committed against the Moro people."
"It has affected the timeline for the establishment of the Bangsamoro entity. It also generated widespread frustrations from people in the Bangsamoro region, particularly. These frustrations could push people, young men most especially, to radicalism, and is being used as a spiel by extremists, if we are to believe reports. The non-passage of the BBL crushed expectations as many have looked at its passage as some sort of panacea and a gateway to a better life in a region besieged by armed conflict for more than four decades. This armed conflict has claimed the lives of more than 130, 000 people and has displaced over a million in the course of the war. Fortunately, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front is bent on pursuing peace. It has ordered its members to honor the ceasefire. The peace process has inspired the birth of many women and peace organizations on the ground that can all help monitor the ceasefire."
"All is not lost with the BBL’s non-passage. The long ceasefire that held for the duration of the peace talks has allowed a long period of quiet and calm that allowed people to experience a life of normalcy and relative stability.[1] Some socio-economic programs were successfully started. Many women have been trained on skills related to keeping and making peace such as skills of conflict resolution, mediation, arms control and early warning and early response. We are looking at helping hone these skills further that they may be used by women to prevent armed conflict and mediate in conflicts in their spheres of influence.
Peace and women activists are also looking at intensifying their peace education work believing that peace education is a potent force in changing mindsets, beliefs and attitudes. It is also suggested that the Bangsamoro narrative be made more visible in the teaching and learning process and in textbooks, hence, there is a need to re-write history to include the Bangsamoro narrative. Peace advocates have talked about actively lobbying for this in Congress.
Peace advocates have also realized the importance of messaging. The public must know, for example, that the Bangsamoro history has been marked by injustice and that the peace process is the means through which we seek to address this historic injustice.[2] Peace advocates plan on intensifying its engagement of media, knowing that it is a powerful weapon to make or break the peace.
There is also a realization for the need to harmonize lobby points as previous lobby approach did not help the process. Lessons from the past indicate that the Moro indigenous peoples, women, and labor lobbyists, among others, may need to come together and agree on common lobby points, informed by both Parties to the negotiations.[3] Lobbyists must also acknowledge that they can only do so much- that the legislators have the final say, and hence, there is a need for strategic lobbying. Lobbyists should also be made to understand how the legislative process works, that they cannot be too positional. The legislature is not a rubber stamp institution that will adopt en toto their lobby points without a debate. Hence, there is a need to lobby hard and strategically so that they can get a BBL that is what they want or closest to what they want. Peace and women’s rights advocates must also remind each other that they are connected by the common goal of bringing peace to war-torn communities and that they have all been working on this for years. The task before them is how to win the public opinion and the legislators’ votes and not blame each other for the non-passage of the law."
"The international community has given so much support for this process. I am personally very thankful. The international community is present in the various mechanisms of the peace process such as the Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Commission, the International Monitoring Team, the International Contact Group, the Third Party Monitoring Team, the Independent Decommissioning Body, among others. International women and peace groups such as members of Women Peacemakers Program, Global Network of Women Peacebuilders, Pax Christi International and Pax Christi New Zealand, Asia Pacific Women’s Alliance on Peace and Security have all given statements of solidarity with civil society organizations in their work in the peace process. Foreign missions like UK, Australia, Norway and Canada have funded WPS networks such as WE Act 1325 so that it could work for women’s meaningful participation in the peace process and in the future Bangsamoro. When the BBL was not passed, foreign missions in the country came up with a statement of support for the continuation of the peace process appealing that the CAB be honoured by the next administrators of government.
It is our hope that the international community will stay the course; continue to extend such support and solidarity."
[1] From the presentation of Karen Tanada in Women Harvesting the Gains, Keeping the Peace in a Stalled Peace Process organized by the Center for Peace Education, WE Act 1325, Pax Christi and Canadian Embassy, Miriam College, 7 March 2016.
[2] From the Forum on Sustaining the Gains of the Peace Process organized by Chevening Alumni, Microtel Hotel, 5 March 2016
[3] Jasmin Nario-Galace in the Forum on Sustaining the Gains of the Peace Process organized by Chevening Alumni, Microtel Hotel, 5 March 2016
Jasmin Nario-Galace is Executive Director of the Center for Peace Education (CPE) and Professor at the College of International, Humanitarian and Development Studies in Miriam College. She has authored or co-authored publications on peace education, conflict resolution and Women, Peace and Security. She is National Coordinator of the Women Engaged in Action on 1325, a national network of women in peace, human rights and women’s organizations which helps implement the National Action Plan on UN Security Council Resolutions 1325 and 1820. She is President of Pax Christi Pilipinas and Chair of the CEAP Justice and Peace Education Committee. She is also a Member of the Board of the Philippine Council for Global and Peace Education and currently leads the Peace Education Network. Internationally, she is in the Steering Board of the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders. She represents the CPE at the Women Peacemakers Program-Asia, the Asia-Pacific Women’s Alliance on Peace and Security, the Global Alliance on Armed Violence and the IANSA Women’s Network.
More information on the Center for Peace Education, Miriam College
More information on Women Engaged in Action on 1325 Philippines
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