After the tragic encounter between our elite special action force, MILF and BIFF fighters in Mamasapano which was dubbed by media as The Fallen 44, a lot of questions were raised by the people. What is the Bangsamoro Basic Law all about?

In my understanding, it is giving the Bangsamoro people - specifically the MILF – autonomy. Autonomy is allowing a certain region to be free to govern themselves at a certain level; it would become a country within a country. My question is why? We tried this before with the MNLF and it obviously did not work. We are all Filipinos and should be under one government. The Aquino administration is pushing this law to be passed without any clear reason. What is the constitutional basis for the authority to negotiate on the part of the Philippine government?

Under the Constitution, “foreign policy power” must be equally shared between the President and the Congress, specifically the Senate. Has the Senate, which is the representative of the People, given the President authority to negotiate in behalf of the Filipino people? According to Senator Santiago, the Senate has not given the President this authority.

In the same context, who has given the authority to the MILF to negotiate for the Bangsamoro people and the other Islamic communities within the country? The Aquino administration failed to consider that there are other break-away groups like the BIFF who would also seek autonomy. Are we going to forge another law for them as well?

The entire BBL proposal is already defective from the very start. The people that would benefit from this agreement do not have a clear negotiator, and these negotiators do not have a clear authority to do so. We as a people, represented by our Congressmen and Senators, should take a closer look at this proposal carefully. After all, in a democratic government it is all about the interest of the many and not of the few. It is clear that the Aquino administration does not have this in mind by pushing to pass the BBL.

I am not one of those who support the idea of autonomy. In order for us to be a strong republic, we must be one. There can only be one flag in the Philippines. If others do not like to be under our laws and constitution, they can always leave and find another country to obtain.