04/02/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly THE PRESIDENT: Commissioner Uka is recognized. MR. UKA: Madam President, not only that. President Corazon C. Aquino has appointed Mr. Albert Tugum as the Chairman of Region IX and Mr. Datu Zakaria Candau as chairman of Region XII. They are doing their work well right now. So there are two recognized autonomous regions. They have also a complete regional assembly as the legislative body. So, it is only a matter of putting this in the Constitution. THE PRESIDENT: So, what is before the body is the proposed amendment on Line 11 of Section 1. Commissioner de Castro is recognized. MR. DE CASTRO: Madam President, if there is now an autonomous region in Mindanao and if, according to the Honorable Ople, this has the recognition of the central government, what then is the use of creating autonomous regions in Muslim Mindanao and going through the process of a plebiscite and enacting an organic act? My amendment is simply to clarify the term "Muslim Mindanao." I really did not expect that this will go this far --- that it is being placed in the Constitution, that it is a fait accompli and that all we have to do here is say "amen" to the whole thing and it we do not say "amen," they will still continue to be autonomous regions. I insist on my amendment, Madam President. MR. OPLE: May I provide more information to Commissioner de Castro on this matter. First of all, we have to correct the misimpression that the autonomous regions, such as they now exist in Mindanao, do not enjoy the recognition of the central government. Secondly, may I point out that the autonomy existing now in Regions IX and XII is a very imperfect kind of autonomy. We are not satisfied with the legal sufficiency of these regions as autonomous regions and that is the reason the initiative has been taken in order to guarantee by the Constitution the right to autonomy of the people embraced in these regions and not merely on the sufferance of any existing or future administration. It is a right, moreover, for which they have waged heroic struggles, not only in this generation but in previous eras and, therefore, what we seek is constitutional permanence for this right. May I also point out, Madam President, that the Tripoli Agreement was negotiated under the aegis of foreign powers. No matter how friendly and sympathetic they are to our country, this is under the aegis of the 42nation Islamic Conference. Should our brothers look across the seas to a conclave of foreign governments so that their rights may be recognized in the Constitution? Do they have to depend upon foreign sympathy so that their right can be recognized in final, constitutional and durable form. THE PRESIDENT: Commissioner Ople, the consensus here is to grant elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/47263 73/203