The Bangsamoro Basic Law: Awareness and support among the Basilan Ethnic and Non-Ethnic Youths

Abstract

The Philippine government (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) signed the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro, which culminates the Aquino Administration’s effort to end the deadlock in the peace process in Mindanao. It would pave the way for the creation of the new Muslim autonomous political entity (NPE) called “Bangsamoro” under law to be approved by the Philippine Congress, which was the proposed ‘Bangsamoro Basic Law’ or BBL (Bangkok Post, 2014). This study is a descriptive - correlation – regression analysis of the awareness and support of the Ethnic and Non-Ethnic Youths in Basilan, Philippines on the Bangsamoro Basic Law. The findings and conclusions were: (1) The Basilan ethnic youths (Yakan and Tausug) were moderately aware of the provisions of the BBL, while the Basilan non-ethnic youths (Chavacano and Visayan) are barely aware of the provisions of the BBL; (2) The ethnic youths moderately support the passage of the BBL while the non-ethnic youths least support its passage; (3) There is a significant relationship between the youths’ level of awareness and extent of support for the BBL; and (4) The levels of support for the BBL of the Basilan youths are dependent on their ethnic and non-ethnic affiliation.