It took a one-on-one meeting between President Aquino and MILF chair Murad Ebrahim last week to finalize the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law to be submitted to Congress on Wednesday.
At a press briefing on Tuesday, Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said Aquino and Murad deemed it necessary to discuss the Bangsamoro bill face-to-face last Thursday due to the "sense of urgency" in crafting the measure.
"The meeting between the President and Chairman Murad resulted in the clarification and resolution of issues pertaining to the details of the implementation of the peace agreement that are embodied in the draft law," Coloma told reporters.
Aquino and Murad evidently had a "meeting of the minds" when they faced each other to tackle issues in the Bangsamoro bill, he added.
"All of the concerns were sufficiently resolved to the satisfaction of both sides throughout that process culminating in the meeting between the President and Chairman (Al Haj) Murad last week," Coloma said.
But Coloma said he was not familiar with the issues discussed by Aquino and the MILF chief during their meeting.
In August 2011, Aquino and Murad's meeting in Tokyo boosted negotiations between the Philippine government and the MILF, which eventually led to the signing of a peace deal between the two parties.
This peace agreement, signed last March by the MILF and the government, will be embodied in the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law.
This peace agreement, signed last March by the MILF and the government, will be embodied in the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law.
The proposed legislation seeks to create a new Bangsamoro political entity to replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). The measure is also expected to stipulate wealth- and power-sharing arrangements between the national government and the Bangsamoro political entity.
The President is expected to submit the Bangsamoro bill to Congress leaders on Wednesday, after months of wrangling reportedly caused by revisions made by Aquino's legal team to the draft submitted by the Bangsamoro Transition Commission.
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