GOVERNMENT workers who enjoy a security of tenure will not be removed from service once the Bangsamoro law and would effectively dissolve the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
The Aquino administration has assured some employees and teaching personnel of the ARMM who had earlier expressed concerns that they might find themselves without work once the new Bangsamoro political entity is created.
Once the Bangsamoro is ratified, ARMM shall be effectively abolished along with all elective positions, except for all other local governments and their respective officials who will stay in place.
In the meantime, a Bangsamoro Transition Authority will function as the interim ministerial government, she pointed out, stressing that the BTA will exercise governance functions that would be devolved to the Bangsamoro political entity.
The BTA will eventually be dissolved once a new set of regional government officials under the Bangsamoro political entity are elected in the national and local elections scheduled on May 2016.
The BTA is provided in the Annex on the Transitional Modalities and Arrangements that both the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) had signed on 27, February 2013.
The Annex is one of the four annexes that completed the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) both parties signed last March 27.
Meanwhile, it is still the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) which will oversee the conduct of a special registration and the administration of the plebiscite that would allow Muslim Filipinos to decide whether they want to join the Bangsamoro region.
Under the CAB, the COMELEC will conduct a special registration and the date of plebiscite which would be determined in the Bangsamoro Basic Bill to be passed into law by Congress.
This agreement is contained in Section II, Paragraph A of the said Annex on defining the transition mechanisms and modalities for the specific role of the COMELEC in the conduct of special registration and plebiscite.
Both peace panels of the GPH and the MILF will also undertake measures to ensure there would be wider participation in the plebiscite of people covered in the core territory of the Bangsamoro.
An international-domestic monitoring body that would be accredited by the COMELEC shall also be created to monitor the plebiscite. The monitoring body shall have access to all operations on the plebiscite and can undertake regular and random checks.
Among the core territory envisioned in the Bangsamoro region include the current ARMM provinces and Marawi City; the cities of Cotabato and Isabela; the six municipalities in Lanao del Norte, and the barangays in six municipalities of North Cotabato province. Other contiguous areas where there is a resolution for inclusion from the LGU or a petition of at least 10 percent of the qualified voters may also be allowed to join the plebiscite.
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