Transfer of OCP Cotabato to BARMM control opposed

THE City Prosecutor of Cotabato City who is also a member of one of the prominent and respected families in Muslim Mindanao reminded the Department of Justice (DOJ) that devolving the functions and power of the Office of the City Prosecutor to the Bangsa Moro Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) would be against the law.

In a letter dated February 16, 2024 addressed to DOJ Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla thru Undersecretary Brigido ‘Dodo’ Dulay Jr., Atty. Miriam April Veloso Mastura, Cotabato City Senior Prosecutor, reminded that under Section 20, Article X of the 1987 Constitution “nowhere” was it stated that the administration of the criminal justice system can be “devolved” to autonomous regions.

OCP Cotabato is presently under the supervision of the DOJ Region 12 Prosecution Office headed by Atty. Al Calica.

Mastura’s comments was sought by the DOJ after receiving a letter jointly signed by Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Amenah Pangandaman and, Mohagher M. Iqbal, BARMM Minister of Basic, Higher and Technical Education last November 22, 2023. The two are co-chairs of the Intergovernmental Relations Body (IGRB) created under RA 11054 of the Bangsa Moro Organic Law (BOL), which became law after a plebiscite in 2019.

The IGRB was created “to coordinate and resolve issues on intergovernmental relations through regular consultation and continuing negotiation in a non-adversarial manner” between the national government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) which tamed down its demand from secessionism, when it was formed in the late ‘70s, to co-optation, thru the creation of the BARMM and the passage of the BOL.

Referencing from the absence of a regional office by the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO), Pangandaman and Iqbal averred that the BARMM’s lack of jurisdiction over the OCP “may not be an accurate legal representation of the BARMM constituents.”

“With the inclusion of Cotabato City to the BARMM (as a result of the 2019 plebiscite—editor), the Bangsamoro Government opined that it is befitting that the supervision of (the) Cotabato City Prosecution Office be transferred to the BARMM Regional Office considering that the clients it is catering (to) are constituents of the BARMM,” they added.

But according to Mastura, “nowhere” was it also stated in RA 11054 that the Bangsamoro government has any power and supervision over the DOJ, the National Prosecution Service (NPS) and its city and provincial prosecutors.

Citing Section 1, Article V of RA 11054, Mastura reminded the DOJ that “all powers, functions and responsibilities not granted by the Constitution or by national laws to the Bangsamoro government shall be vested in the national government.”