Marawi City --- More than thirty thousand individuals from all walks of life trooped to the provincial gymnasium of Lanao del Sur March 11 to be part of the public consultation jointly conducted by the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) and the negotiating peace panels of the MILF and GPH.
In what has been the most attended and longest consultation held thus far by the BTC, the public gathering lasted for five hours. 37 representatives of various sectors were allowed to address the commissioners and peace panel members.
MILF Peace Panel Chairman Mohagher Iqbal, who also chairs the BTC, assured the very large crowd that the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) is to be signed within the coming few days.
Describing the CAB as the “greatest hope for real peace,” Iqbal said that they have come to the Maranao people to ask for their blessing and support before they “commit the future and destiny of our people to that Agreement.”
With the help of a translator, Iqbal told the Maranaos that the MILF and the GPH panels have an “over-arching commitment to finally answer the Bangsamoro Question, and to ensure that it will be on a path to economic security, stability and success for the future generations of the Bangsamoro.”
He said that “the establishment of the new Bangsamoro political entity will pave the way for good governance and will result in a stronger, better-resourced government suited to the way of life of the Bangsamoro.”
OPAPP Sec. Teresita Deles, who spoke in Tagalog in her opening message, said that the joint consultation brought the message that the “roadmap…. is almost fulfilled.”
“The time has come for the Bangsamoro to be at par with other places in the Philippines and Southeast Asia because of the expected investments that would drive its economy,” Deles confidently proclaimed.
She also urged the people that when CAB is already signed they should open their hearts and minds in seeking and understanding the good life that would be ushered in by the Bangsamoro.
GPH Peace Panel Chief Prof. Miriam Coronel-Ferrer went into details of explaining the basic features of the prospective Bangsamoro.
For one, she said, the Bangsamoro would be different from the present-day ARMM in terms of structure of governance, the former being ministerial in form.
Ferrer cited the benefits of having a legislative assembly under a ministerial form. “It is truly representative since many sectors stand the chance of being elected into it and it is also more accountable since the chief minister would be under the close scrutiny of the assembly, and not the other way around as obtains in the present system,” she elaborated.
Iqbal and Ferrer ended the 5-hour consultation with the reassurance that the positions, recommendations and sentiments of the audience were all duly noted.
Recommendations gathered include the creation of Shariah and tribal courts, strengthening the roles of women and youth, clear programs for agriculture and business, the retention of the phrase Muslim Mindanao, further institutionalization of sultanates, the immediate formation of Joint Peace and Security Teams, among others.
A day earlier, the BTC paid a courtesy call to Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal Adiong, Jr. A meeting of the BTC with a majority of the province’s 39 municipal mayors was also arranged by the governor in his office.
The Office of the Provincial Governor played as gracious host to the conduct of the joint public consultation.
http://www.luwaran.com/index.php/welcome/item/885-btc-peace-panels-hold-consultation-in-lanao
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