Bangsamoro beats water zones of LGUs

LAWMAKERS on Tuesday asked why the proposed Bangsamoro region was allowed to stake a larger claim over its territorial waters than those permitted for local government units (LGUs) across the country.

During the ad hoc Committee Hearing on the Bangsamoro Basic Law, Zamboanga City Rep. Celso L. Lobregat asked why peace panels from the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) arrived at such an arrangement.

“Doon sa MoA-AD (Memorandum of Agreement on the Muslim Ancestral Domain) kinse kilometro lang, ngayon ginawang beinte dos (Under the MOA-AD, waters belonging to the Bangsamoro region only covered those within 15 kilometers from shore. But now, it’s 22.),” Mr. Lobregat said during the hearing, referring to a previous treaty between both parties that was later considered unconstitutional.

A Teacher party-list Rep. Mariano U. Piamonte also disputed the measure, saying that provinces forming the core territory of the autonomous region will be at a disadvantage due to the said arrangement.

“We should really study this law. Because it seems that we are giving more and more concessions to the Bangsamoro but to the disadvantage of the other regions,” Mr. Piamonte said.

Rep. Pedro B. Acharon of the first district of Cotabato also echoed the same sentiments. “We will be the one asked by our people why. Why is it this way, why 22 and 15?” he asked.

Article III of the House Bill 4994 -- the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law -- states that “the Bangsamoro waters shall extend up to 22.224 kilometers (12 nautical miles) from the low-water mark of the coasts that are part of the Bangsamoro territory.”

“While the Bangsamoro waters may be wider than the requisite municipal waters in the fisheries code... the principles of demarcation and preferential resource use are the same and for that the bureau does not pose objection to this,” Atty. Carmela S. Concepcion of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) legal division said, reading from the bureau’s position paper.

Government peace panel chair Miriam Coronel-Ferrer said that the wider and longer territorial waters were part of a compromise agreement between the Philippine government and the MILF.

“The reasons for extending the territorial jurisdiction have to do with historical claims to the waters of Sulu, the Sulu sea in particular, and the Moro Gulf. But of course the national government could not consent to devolving jurisdiction over the whole of Sulu Sea and the Moro Gulf, so the compromise agreement was to extend it,” Ms. Ferrer said during the hearing.

source:  Businessworld