BTC vows to submit draft basic law for Bangsamoro gov't to President Aquino April 13

From the Philippine News Agency (Apr 13): BTC vows to submit draft basic law for Bangsamoro gov't to President Aquino April 13

The Bangsamoro Basic Law which will serve as the legal basis of the creation of Bangsamoro government in Mindanao is set to submitted to Congress by next week, the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) said Saturday.

Mohaqher Iqbal, MILF chief negotiator and BTC chair, said the draft basic law is almost complete after a series of consultations, draft preparations, revisions, rewriting and finalization.

The BTC is composed of sectoral representatives from the government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) created by President Aquino after the signing of the Bangsamoro Framework Agreement in October 2012.

Since then, it conducted consultations with all sectors in Mindanao and other parts of the country. It completed the draft this week for submission to Congress.

With the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro after 17 years of peace talks between Manila and the MILF, the biggest Muslim rebel group in southern Philippines, the basic law is the remaining ingredient that would complete the peace process.

The BBL, once approved by Congress and signed into law by President Aquino, will replace the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). But it must have the concurrence of the inhabitants of the ARMM, the core of new political entity, through a plebiscite to be held in 2015 and the eventual election of new leaders in May 2016 simultaneous with the national and local elections.

”We set March 31 as deadline for the completion of the draft and we failed to beat that but a week’s delay does not matter as long as we came up with a comprehensive draft for Congress’ scrutiny,” Iqbal said in a radio interview.

According to Bobby Benito, executive director of the Mindanao Human Rights Action Center, the BTC will submit the draft law to President Aquino on Monday with peace advocates in Mindanao holding a peace caravan for the send off.

The BTC will hand carry the draft to Malacanang and present to President Aquino, who expectedly, will certify the draft as urgent before sending it to Congress.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=634725