Thursday, November 20, 2014

MILF: Forum on BBL held at BASECO Hall, Isabela City

Posted to the MILF Website (Nov 20): Forum on BBL held at BASECO Hall, Isabela City



Another forum on BBL was conducted at BASELCO Compound on November 17, 2014 attended by about 100 employees of Basilan Electric Cooperative (BASELCO), other professionals, representatives from NGOs and LGUs of Basilan. Invited resource speaker was Commissioner Peter Eisma of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC).
  
Commissioner Eisma received a big applause from the participants when he said that the uniqueness of the BBL is at its preamble itself.  He read it partly, "We, the Bangsamoro people and other inhabitants of the Bangsamoro...".  Its inclusiveness also convinced him to sign the BBL despite being in the minority because Christians and the indigenous peoples shall be represented in the Bangsamoro Parliamentary. He said, “It is wrong to say that the Bangsamoro Government would be operating outside the Philippine Constitution as many people perceived it especially the Christians where I am one of them.

The BBL is "in consonance with the Constitution and the universally accepted principles of human rights;  in accordance with  international standards reflective of our system of life prescribed by our faith, and in harmony with our customary laws, cultures and traditions".

The participants were satisfied with the explicit explanations of the contents of BBL by Comm. Eisma manifested by their clarifications made during the open forum.

One of the questions raised by Maria Lina Patino from Lantawan, Basilan was "Can you or the Bangsamoro Government guarantee that there will no more Abu Sayyaf or Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters once the Bangsamoro is in power?

Commissioner Eisma said that that we cannot guarantee that but what is important is we have something to hold on, just like in a basketball games, when there is a coach and rules to follow, the players will not fight with one another because they are governed by the rules and they have a coach to guide them".

Ustadz Kaiser, a member of the Reconciliation Council of the ARMM supported Comm. Eisma saying, "We are from the same town of Lantawan but take a look at the MNLF at MILF. Despite being in different organizations, they do not fight here in our place in Basilan because they respect each other as brothers. That is the way how I look at the Abu Sayyaf, that eventually they will afford respect to the Bangsamoro Government once it is in place".

Another question posed by Ibrahim A. Hain, a teacher from Tuburan, "Can we go home to tell our colleagues that we have a guarantee on our security of tenure as teachers where more than 21,000 teachers had been denied of their salaries and benefits during the past administrations of ARMM?

Comm. Eisma answered him that under the BBL “there is a guarantee for the security of tenure of the legitimate employees of ARRMM”.

Program Host Mr. Rusid “Sultan” Durapan, Asst. Manager of BASELCO said, "Comm. Eisma, we are so glad for having accepted our invitation and explained to us about the BBL. This way, there shall no more confucions and doubts in our minds. Thank you very much, LONG LIVE !

The program ended with a closing message from Atty. Ahmad AL Amin who summed up what were discussed by the resource speaker.

http://www.luwaran.com/index.php/welcome/item/1353-forum-on-bbl-held-at-baseco-hall-isabela-city

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