Swift passage of Bangsamoro law assured

From the Manila Bulletin (Feb 6): Swift passage of Bangsamoro law assured

Leaders of Congress yesterday assured the swift passage of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law before the end of 2014. Senate and House of Representatives leaders also said they want it ratified and in place before the end of President Benigno S. Aquino III’s term in 2016.

The assurance was made after Senate President Franklin M.  Drilon, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto, Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter S. Cayetano and Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile met with House of Representatives Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales Jr. and Minority Leader Ronaldo Zamora to discuss the proposed peace agreement between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Movement (MILF) yesterday morning.

After the meeting, Drilon and Sen. Teofisto Guingona III met with Mohaqher Iqbal, MILF peace panel chairman, and the Philippine panel led by Teresita Quintos Deles, head of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), during a courtesy call at the Senate building in Pasay City.

“The comprehensive peace agreement will be the basis for the basic law and we expect the (Aquino) administration draft of the basic law to be submitted to us. The draft law must stay within the four corners of the Constitution. There will be no need for a constitutional amendment,’’ Drilon said.

He brushed off calls for the amendments to the 1987 Constitution before a peace agreement with the MILF could be put in place.

“All of us are in agreement that enactment of the Bangsamoro Basic Law should be in place by the end of 2014. That is our target because we want to see 2015 as a year when we can submit this for ratification by the areas covered by the Bangsamoro Basic Law. This is our commitment and our target dates that we want to pursue seriously in both the Senate and the House of Representatives,” Drilon said.

A resident of Mindanao, Guingona said, “We are nearing the crucial (end) of the long-awaited peace talks.”

As chairman of the Senate Peace, Unification and Reconciliation Committee, Guingona said he fully supports the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law.

“On the part of the MILF, I assure you there is no other way than to push the issue of peace so that peace will not only be in Mindanao but the entire Philippines. Everybody will reap the fruits of this agreement,” Iqbal told Senate reporters after the courtesy call on Drilon.

“The MILF is fully committed to draft the Bangsamoro Basic Law and we know it is not an easy job,” he said.

Asked about the status of the 1996 Philippine Government-Moro NationaL Liberation Front (MNLF) peace accord, Deles said consultations are being made with the MNLF headed by Nur Misuari and the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC).

The panels of the Philippine government and MILF expressed relief following the recent signing of the last of four Annexes to the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB).

Iqbal described the annex on normalization as the most sensitive and most emotional of all the issues, entailing a lot of sacrifices on the part of the MILF.

http://www.mb.com.ph/swift-passage-of-bangsamoro-law-assured/