Tolentino raises fiscal problem for Sulu province after SC ruled it's not part of BARMM

Senate Majority Leader Francis "Tol" Tolentino on Monday raised the fiscal problem Sulu province faces after the Supreme Court ruled the validity of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) organic law and finally dropped Sulu from the region.

Acknowledging the national government's lack of anticipation of the high court's ruling that the province of Sulu is not part of the BARMM, Tolentino said the consequence is the difficulty of funding BARMM offices in the detached province.

The lawmaker was reacting to Sulu Gov. Abdusakur Tan's report that employees of the BARMM offices in his province were already informed of the last salary until Sept. 10.

Tan also reported that the BARMM offices in their province lack funds to sustain operations, including rentals and utilities, which the Sulu provincial government cannot shoulder.

Tolentino assured the governor of his continuing quest to resolve the issue while budget hearings on national agencies are ongoing in Congress.

He said he has always asked the departments during the budget hearing how they could help the province of Sulu, whose funding from the BARMM, where it once belonged, would be stopped.

However, Tolentino said the Departments of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and Science and Technology (DOST) were unable to answer how to assist Sulu province in the previous budget hearings.

He said that during the DILG budget hearing, he asked to which region the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Sulu now belongs after the province was rendered without a region with the high court's ruling.

Tolentino shared that the PNP told him that the PNP in Sulu would be placed under Region IX, or the Zamboanga Peninsula, which Tan said was the regional unit in command before the BARMM.

In 2019, Sulu rejected the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law, which seeks to expand the autonomous region in Mindanao, despite most of the provinces in the previous Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) voting in favor of the law.

Despite voting against it, Sulu was still included in the BARMM, prompting it to file a petition before the high court assailing the constitutionality of the organic law.

The court declared unconstitutional the provision in the law that directed ARMM provinces and cities to vote as a single geographical unit, including provinces that rejected the law.

According to the Supreme Court, this interpretation violated Article X, Section 18 of the Constitution, which mandates that only regions voting favorably in the referendum should be included in the autonomous region.

Given Sulu's rejection of the Bangsamoro Organic Law, the high court ruled that including the province in BARMM was improper.

Tolentino, nanawagang resolbahin ang isyu sa pondo ng Sulu, matapos itong ihiwalay sa BARMM

Nanawagan si Senate Majority Leader Francis "Tol" Tolentino para kagyat na resolbahin ang isyu sa pondo ng lalawigan ng Sulu matapos magdesisyon ang Korte Suprema na ihiwalay ito mula sa Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

Paliwanag ni Tolentino, hindi naikonsidera ng pamahalaan sa paghahanda ng badyet ang posibleng epekto ng desisyon ng Mataas na Korte, kabilang na ang mga opisinang sangay ng BARMM na nakatalaga sa naihiwalay na probinsya.

Nauna rito'y ibinahagi ni Sulu Governor Abdusakur Tan sa senador ang ulat ng mga empleyado ng BARMM offices na diumano'y napagsabihan na hanggang Setyembre 10 na lamang ang kanilang sahod

Iniulat din ni Tan na walang sapat na pondo ang mga opisina ng BARMM sa Sulu para maipagpatuloy ang mga operasyon nito, kabilang ang upa at utilities, na hindi naman umano kayang saluhin ng pamprobinsyang pamahalaan.

Bilang tugon, siniguro ni Tolentino kay Tan na ipagpapatuloy nya ang paglilinaw sa isyu, lalo at binabalangkas din ng Senado ang panukalang badyet ng mga ahensya ng pamahalaan para sa susunod na taon.

Iniulat din ng senador na lagi nyang tinatanong ang mga kalihim ng ahensya kung paano nila pupunan ang puwang sa badyet ng Sulu dulot ng desisyon ng Korte Suprema.

Aniya, hindi umano nakapagbigay ng malinaw na sagot ang Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) at Department of Science and Technology (DOST) nang sila'y tanungin nya sa mga pagdinig noong nakaraang linggo.

Tinanong din ni Tolentino sa pagdinig sa badyet ng Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) kung saang rehiyon mapapabilang ang Sulu sa ilalim ng Philippine National Police (PNP).

Ang tugon ng PNP, babalik ang Sulu sa Region IX (Zamboanga Peninsula), kung saan ito dating nakapaloob, ayon sa senador, na sinang-ayunan naman ni Tan.

Magugunita na noong 2019, bumoto ang Sulu para ibasura ang Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), na naglalayong palawakin ang mga teritoryong nasasakupan ng dating Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Ngunit sa kabila nito ay isinama pa rin sa BARMM ang Sulu, na nagbunsod dito para maghain ng petisyon sa Mataas na Korte para kwestyunin ang constitutionality ng BOL.

Sa desisyon na inilabas nito noong isang linggo, idineklara ng Korte Suprema na unconstitutional ang probisyon ng BOL na nagdidirekta sa mga lalawigan at siyudad sa ilalim ng ARMM na bumoto bilang 'single geographical unit' - kasama na ang mga lalawigang nagbasura sa naturang batas.

Paliwanag ng Korte Suprema, labag ito sa Article X, Section 18 ng Konstitusyon, na nagsasaad na tanging mga rehiyon lamang na bumoto ng pabor sa isang referendum ang maaaring isama sa autonomous region.

At dahil ibinasura ng Sulu ang BOL, idiniin ng Korte Suprema na hindi tamang mapaloob ang probinsya sa nasasakupan ng BARMM.