ZAMBOANGA CITY: Mayor Maria
Isabelle Climaco Salazar has urged congressmen to exclude Zamboanga or any part
of its territorial jurisdiction including the municipal waters and island
villages from the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), news report reaching
Misamis News Digest said.
The proposed BBL or HB
4994 seeks to establish a political entity under leadership of the Moro Islamic
Liberation Front (MILF).
In speaking for
Zamboanga City and ZamboangueƱos during the congressional public hearing on the
draft BBL, Climaco expressed the city’s official stand on the Bangsamoro issue,
saying several provisions of the bill are inconsistent with the present Constitution.
The mayor underscored that
Chavacanos support Pres. Aquino’s peace initiatives with the MILF to attain a
genuine and lasting peace in Mindanao, however they had already voted
significantly in two plebiscites for exclusion in the ARMM or any succeeding
political body similar to it.
She asserted that
municipal waters belong to all Filipinos and that giving the Bangsamoro the
power to levy taxes might reduce the LGUs Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) in
the future.
An official position
paper on the Bangsamoro issue for the Ad Hoc Committee solons, which is called Committee
Resolution No.1320, has been passed by the City Council expressing its
opposition to the inclusion of the city in the Bangsamoro.
HB 4994, if approved
into law, will abolish the existing ARMM and RA 6734, otherwise known as the
Organic Act for the ARMM.