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Writer's pictureTelibert Laoc

Start-up Investment for the Development and Maturation of Political Parties in the BARMM: Topics and Text for an Explanatory Note of a Possible Bill

Republic Act 11054 (2018), the Bangsamoro Organic Law, envisions a multi-party system as a means to empower citizens and ensure that various groups in the region have a voice in decision-making processes.  Parties are viewed as pillars in representing diverse interests, facilitating political participation, and promoting good governance that would lead to long-term stability, peace, and prosperity of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.  This paper proposes a system that supports the development and maturation of political parties, that will see the rooting of the practice of true democratic political representation.


Rational and Objectives

  1. Support the long-term development and maturation of political parties.

  2. Instill the relevance of political parties in the lives of the people in the BARMM.

  3. Enrich the marketplace of ideas, encourage variety and tolerance of different ideas to advance the appreciation of democratic space.

  4. Encourage and promote innovation in the region through open political dialogue that would drive creativity among the citizens who will be benefiting from the free democratic space.


Investment on Political Parties

  1. All regional parliamentary political parties accredited by the COMELEC, on its second participation in the elections for members of the BARMM parliament shall be entitled to a one-time ten million pesos (P10,000,000) investment from the State.  These funds shall be named “Start-up Investment for the Development and Maturation of Regional Parliamentary Political Parties in the BARMM.”  This shall be free of taxes and unconditionally and automatically released after the second election that a party remains in the COMELEC list of accredited regional parliamentary political parties.  The disbursement shall be as follows:

    1. The first of three tranches in the amount of Five Million (5,000,000) pesos, shall be released by the COMELEC one calendar year after the Parliamentary Elections, within a period of week after the date of the end of the Election Period of that Parliamentary Elections.

    2. The second of three tranches in the amount of Four Million (4,000,000) pesos, shall be released by the COMELEC two calendar years after the Parliamentary Elections, within a period of week after the date of the end of the Election Period of that Parliamentary Elections.

    3. The third of three tranches in the amount of One Million (1,000,000) pesos, shall be released by the COMELEC within one week after the end of the current Election Period.

  2. Political parties are required, within 30 days after the release of the investment, to provide a public report through its website and through the website of the COMELEC a report on how the investment is intended to be used.  The categories, on which the parties are free to their interpretation, under which the funds can be used are:

    1. Policy influence,

    2. Innovation and modernization,

    3. Contribution to political diversity and stability,

    4. Social, entrepreneurial, and economic impact,

    5. Sustainability of political parties and political diversity and legacy, and 

    6. Global and regional influence.

  3. On the second election and within six months after the end of the election period after the receipt of the investment, the parties that have received the investment shall submit a report to the COMELEC and to the Parliament through the Civil Society Commission in Support of Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates in the BARMM. Investment in Service of Regional Parliamentary Political Parties in the BARMM

  4. The BARMM Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates Support from Civil Society Organizations (IPPCC-CSOs) shall be created.  It is an independent body whose main purpose is to help realize the objectives of this law through the promotion of true democratic proportional representation, and institution of specific metrics to evaluate progress towards the objectives.

    1. The IPPCC-CSOs shall exist for a period of ten (10) years starting from the date of the ratification of this law.  In the first quarter of the ninth year, the IPPCC-CSOs shall render a report to the Parliament and to the COMELEC the state of the development and maturation of political parties, supported by qualitative and quantitative data showing how the people in the BARMM are aware of and attribute importance or value of the existence of parties and its role in development in the BARMM.  The report will also include strategies to ensure the institutionalization of research, analyses, and reportorial capacity shown by theIPPCC-CSO within the Parliamentary Research Services, state universities and colleges in the BARMM, and CSOs in the BARMM.  The report shall include recommendations for the continuation of the IPPCC-CSO for a maximum period of five years.  If continuation of the BARMM is approved by the BARMM Parliament, half of the IPPCC-CSO will have new members, including new female and male co-coordinators.  Any of the past female and male coordinators may be hired by the new co-coordinators to serve as consultants, with a maximum cumulative duration of one year.

    2. The IPPCC-CSO shall conduct activities that support the development and maturation of political parties in these general areas:

      1. Quantitative and qualitative data, analyses and insights that would inform parties about voters’ perceptions, views, and opinions that will help in the policy formulation and other areas of party development.

      2. Train and build capacity for the leadership and members of the party in support of their development and maturation.

      3. Develop benchmarks and metrics that would indicate progress and development of parties under a multi-partisan system promoting political diversity and its influence on the population.  The IPPCC-CSO is tasked to develop benchmarks  and metrics for the development of parties in the areas of: policy influence; innovation and modernization; contribution to political diversity and stability;  social, entrepreneurial, and economic impact; sustainability of political parties and political diversity and legacy; and global and regional influence.

      4. The target of the parties that will be supported by the IPPCC-CSOs is for the people in the BARMM, through a representative survey of voters, to have between a 80 percent and 90 percent favorability rating of political parties by the 10th year.  The data and findings of which will be discussed in detail in the final report of the IPPCC-CSO.

      5. All final reports shall have a popularized or laymanized version  for distribution to the public.  They will be published in the IPPCC-CSO website in English, Filipino, and the main languages in the BARMM, i.e. Maguindanaon, Maranao, Tausug, Yakan, Sama-Badjau, and Cebuano/Bisaya.  The IPPCC-CSO shall be tasked to develop a lexicon for these languages in digital format to support the development of and introduction of official languages of the BARMM, the feasibility of which will be assessed in the final or tenth year report of the IPPCC-CSO.

      6. Support the institutionalization of the Parliamentary Research Service within the BARMM Parliament whose main work is to provide data-driven legislative insights, performance monitoring and evaluation, and data-driven and data informed capacity-building.

      7. Support the institutionalization of research and analysis  capabilities and capabilities similar to that of the IPPCC-CSO  in public institutions of higher learning in the BARMM.

      8. Support the institutionalization of research and analysis  capabilities and capabilities similar to that of the IPPCC-CSO  in civil society organizations in the BARMM.  Particularly for CSOs in the BARMM, support the institutionalization of a democratic citizen oversight on the parliament, executive, and the judiciary.

    3. All processes, outputs, information, and others, emanating from the IPPCC-CSO are public and owned by the BARMM parliament.

    4. Composition of the IPPCC-CSO.  This will be composed of:

      1. A permanent team of Regional Coordinators, one female and one male,  who will be ranked equally, and will have identical duties and responsibilities, and salaries.  They will work together and in complementarity to ensure that all work done by the IPPCC-CSO is holistic in view, approach, and result, from the gender perspective.  The regional coordinators shall be supervised by the head of the IPPCC-CSO.

      2. A technical analytical and insight team of four female and four male members who shall serve as the overseers of various research projects of the IPPCC-CSO.  Two of the female and two of the male members will come from the academia and two of the female and male members will be practitioners or professionals.

      3. A permanent public procurement team of four members, two of which are females and two are males, who will be responsible for the procurement of services for qualitative and quantitative research, data collection, interpretation and analyses and similar tasks.  A permanent procurement team of one female and one male member shall be set up solely for the purpose of public procurement of goods.  They may be tasked to support the procurement of services.

      4. The IPPCC-CSO is allowed to engage the services of four permanent senior staff, four permanent junior staff, and four support staff.

      5. The IPPCC-CSO shall receive a budget of between Thirty (30,000,000) and Fifty (50,000,000) Million pesos per year.  It is not restricted from receiving foreign funds for research and other areas are directly attributable to the fulfillment of the mission of the IPPCC-CSO.  However, none of the foreign funds should go to salaries, benefits, and similar fees relating to personnel, including any goods the use of which will solely be for or in benefit of the IPPCC-CSO as an organization, whose value exceeds One (1,000,000) Million Pesos


  5. The salaries of political party officials.  Salaries of party presidents, treasures, and executive directors/secretaries general of accredited political parties shall be paid by the State.

    1. Party presidents shall be paid the same amount as the basic salaries with all the benefits received by the Speaker of the BARMM Parliament.

    2. Secretaries general shall be paid the same amount as the basic salaries with all the benefits received a Deputy Speaker of the BARMM Parliament

    3. Treasures shall be paid the same amount as the basic salaries with all the benefits received by the Executive Director of the BARMM Parliament.

    4. All political parties accredited by the COMELEC, including the IPPCC-CSO, shall submit a yearly audited financial statement that shows an Unqualified or (Clean) Opinion for a reputable international or internationally-affiliated national auditing firm.  Any report that is not unqualified or clean shall disqualify officials of the party from receiving salaries,  and disqualifies the party of investments from the State.  In the case of the IPPCC-CSO, a report that is not Unqualified  or not Clean will cause the dismissal from the service of both Regional Co-Coordinators and any and all other staff, as the case may be.  Anyone from the IPPCC-CSO who was dismissed may not be re-hired.

    5. The State through the COMELEC and with the assistance of the IPPCC-CSO shall ensure that all accredited parties are assisted and guided to help ensure that the financial recording or documenting, and reporting, through the use of digital or digitized platforms or systems will allow them to secure an Unqualified or Clean Opinion.

    6. The State through the ICCPP-CSO, with the oversight by the COMELEC, through the public procurement and in compliance with all relevant laws, procure the services of an international or internationally-affiliated national auditing firm that shall audit the political parties.  The cost of the audit to all parties will be borne by the State. 


  6. Option to support parties through payment of taxes.  Any citizen of the Philippines or a Filipino corporation may give funds to political parties in the BARMM through a portion of its tax.  During the filing of taxes they may indicate an amount of no more than ten (10) percent of the total tax to one or more regional parliamentary political parties.  These amounts will be added to the “Start-up Investment for the Development and Maturation of Regional Parliamentary Political Parties in the BARMM.”

  7. Any citizen of the Philippines or a Filipino corporation may give funds to the IPPCC-CSO through a portion of its tax.  In which case the amount will be added to the funds the IPPCC-CSO is entitled to through this law.

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