Friday, July 12, 2013

MILF: MILF mum on Cha-Cha move in Congress

From the MILF Website (Jul 12): MILF mum on Cha-Cha move in Congress

Despite its long-held belief that real solution to the Bangsamoro Question requires amending the Constitution, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is not jumping its gun to support, at least in principle, the charter change (cha-cha) initiative reverberating in the House  of Representatives.
  
“It is an internal legal process that the MILF is not supposed to participate,” Muhammad Ameen, chair of the MILF Secretariat, told Luwaran in an interview today.

He was commenting on report that charter change is again up in the air, with Speaker Sonny Belmonte stating that he will file a resolution that would call for a constituent assembly (con-ass).

“We are not there; let us  wait for the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) to finish its job and make a stand whether amending the Constitution is required or not,” he explained.

He recalled that to this day the government and MILF continue to disagree on whether this amendment is necessary or not. The government said that the present Constitution has the flexibility to accommodate and entrench the Basic Law and the MILF firmly taking a contrary view that changing the status quo form of government to asymmetrical relationship (ministerial form) would require amendment of the Constitution.

One of the functions of the BTC is to make proposals, if necessary, to amend the Constitution. The first function is to draft the Basic Law and the third is to coordinate socio-economic development projects, if necessary.

In the past, many senators and congressmen also favored charter change. Their main focus is on the economic provisions of the Constitution, which to them, are very rigid that stunted development of the country. They referred to the ownership of certain industries and those that are involved in the exploration, development and utilization of our natural resources.

Some solons favored ownership of lands by foreigners, a move opposed by others especially the nationalists and leftists. They branded this move as a sell-out.

http://www.luwaran.com/

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