Thursday, November 20, 2014

Climaco, chavacanos want out of Bangsamoro


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.