MNLF wants basic law final draft

From the Manila Standard Today (Feb 15): MNLF wants basic law final draft

THE Moro National Liberation Front on Thursday said Malacañang’s move to persuade Mindanao’s inhabitants to accept its recently-signed framework agreement with the MILF was “too premature” because its peace initiatives with that group faced a bumpy ride ahead of its implementation.

MNLF spokesman Absalom Cerveza criticized Malacañang’s move to persuade the Bangsamoro people to support the government’s peace agreement with the MILF because of its unresolved peace agreement with the MNLF.

“It’s too early,” Cerveza said.

“They have yet to produce the final draft of the Basic Law and yet they’re already campaigning.”

Cerveza made his statement even as Reps. Jerry Treñas and Mel Senen Sarmiento called for a swift passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law and urged the stakeholders to give the peace process a chance to succeed.

“I am all out for the swift and easy passage of the envisioned Bangsamoro Basic Law, and I think that this belief is shared by many of our colleagues in the House of Representatives,” Treñas said.

“So long as that law will not prejudice our national interest, I will definitely support it all the way.”

Sarmiento said he expected a swift passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law because no less than President Benigno Aquino III had said he would endorse it as an urgent measure.

“The majority will definitely through their support behind the measure,” Sarmiento said.

“We all want the peace process to succeed and hopefully, this time it will truly work.”  

President Aquino and the Bangsamoro Transition Commission, along with his allies in the local governments, held a preliminary political sortie in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao to campaign for the ratification of the Bangsamoro Basic Law.

But Cerveza said the government, instead of entering into a new phase of peace initiatives with the MILF, should first resolve its stalled final implementation of the peace agreement with the MNLF in 1996.

Last year, the government apparently abrogated its review of the 1996 peace agreement with the MNLF after it entered a separate peace treaty with the MILF, and then concluded the first phase of the accord with both sides signing the four annexes of the framework agreement preparatory to the crafting of the basic law.

“It’s not the answer to the problem. They still don’t know whether the people will accept the final draft of the agreement,” Cerveza said.

“He [Aquino] is too in a hurry. the GRP-MILF peace accord could just die a natural death. There are many things yet to be considered.”

http://manilastandardtoday.com/2014/02/15/mnlf-wants-basic-law-final-draft/