BACKGROUND

The Mandanas-Garcia ruling by the Supreme court seeks to allocate resources to LGUs (Local Government Units) for them to implement “devolved functions,” i.e. to have the power to perform such functions delegated to local and regional administrations instead of the central government.

Regarding the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), LGUs still operate under the 1991 Local Government Code and inter-governmental relations within the Bangsamoro Organic Law; and these laws do not provide any specifications on linkages between the Bangsamoro Government and its LGUs. The BARMM itself is a devolved political entity established by the Organic Law for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, also referred to as the Republic Act No. 11054.

The region, while technically autonomous, requires many of its laws and regulations to be reconciled with national laws and codes. It illustrates an immediate challenge to the Bangsamoro Government where it must delineate and negotiate its relationship with both the Philippine National government and its LGUs.

TOPICS OF INTERESTS

We encourage papers and policy notes that are hinged on, but not limited to, the discussion on the Devolution and Autonomy for BARMM:

• Implications of the Mandanas-Garcia ruling on the BARMM
• Policy reconciliation with the Philippine State
• Benefits of devolution for regional administrations
• How devolution supports greater autonomy of BARMM

GUIDELINES FOR AUTHORS

Call for papers:

Pre-publication versions of academic or policy articles, book chapters, or reviews. Papers that are typically in progress, with preliminary findings, tables, and data descriptions, but the work is far enough along and ready to be shared and expected to elicit feedback from multiple publics. (5,000 to 8,000 words)

Call for policy notes:

Policy Notes are impartial assessments and analyses on issues of legislative significance. The notes aim to provide research-based inputs to the Members of the Parliament, which include a condensed version of discussion papers, policies, bills, legislative works, and studies pertinent to the Bangsamoro legislative agenda. It has a maximum of 1000 to 1,500 words including the references and with a specific outline of:

• Executive Summary (200 words)
• Background (300-500 words)
• Policy Issue (1 sentence)
• Data and Findings (300-500 words)
• Recommendations (300-500 words)
• Salient Points (3-5 highlights of the entire policy notes)
• References

IMPORTANT REMINDERS

Deadline: January 22, 2022 Deadline extended until February 05, 2022

Send your proposals to the Policy Research and Legal Services: prls@bta.gov.ph with the subject [research workshop submission_Last Name of Author]