The congressional hearings on the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) are in the final stage and soon a bill is expected to come out, for the signature of President Benigno Aquino III. (We hope no one will go the Supreme Court to contest the legality of the law or any of its provisions).
One of the most asked questions to the MILF peace panel and even to the leadership of the MILF that suppose Congress would pass a watered down version of the mutually-agreed version of the BBL which was sent to Congress on September 10. Would the MILF accept it?
The answer to this question cannot be a straight and blunt, because it entails a lot of sensitivity and reality. We know for a fact that in this country, plenary power over legislation is lodged with Congress.
Our answer has been very consistent that the MILF trusts the collective wisdom of Congress to pass a good legislation. Congress, like any entities of government, wants the Moro Question or Problem to be solved. We do not know of any time in the future that this opportunity presents itself again. “Opportunity knocks only once,” the old adage goes.
We explain our position that the case of the BBL is not an ordinary legislation. Its substance does not only reflect the letter and spirit of the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) and Four Annexes and the Addendum on Bangsamoro Waters, but the Parties ensured that the BBL has all the essential elements of these agreements in the proposed law. The deliberation had passed through rigorous and lengthy processes: 17 long years of negotiation, Parties signed the FAB in 2012 and CAB in 2014, the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) crafted the BBL and formally submitted it to the Office of the President, which sent it back to the BTC, which in turn, seeing the revisions on the BBL as “massive’, elevated it to the Peace Panels to resolve, settle, and decide but failed to do so, which prompted the OP and BTC-MILF to take over the deliberation. But the process did not end here. President Aquino and Chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim have to meet in Malacañang to settle the remaining seven contentious issues that culminated the process to produce a mutually agreed version of the BBL, as noted above. But since the BTC is mandated by the Parties and by law through the strength of Executive Order No. 120 to craft the BBL, fourteen out of the 15 commissioners of the BTC (one resigned) had to formally affix their signatures to the proposed BBL. This was the version of the BBL sent to Congress.
Bearing all these factors in mind, the MILF’s position is clear: We welcome an improvement of the BBL. Who does not want an improvement?
But a reminder has to be earnestly said: an improvement to one group may not necessarily be so, to another group. To plug the gap, this is where the spirit of partnership and cooperation between Parties works best.
http://www.luwaran.com/index.php/editorial/item/1422-improvement-of-bbl-yes
The answer to this question cannot be a straight and blunt, because it entails a lot of sensitivity and reality. We know for a fact that in this country, plenary power over legislation is lodged with Congress.
Our answer has been very consistent that the MILF trusts the collective wisdom of Congress to pass a good legislation. Congress, like any entities of government, wants the Moro Question or Problem to be solved. We do not know of any time in the future that this opportunity presents itself again. “Opportunity knocks only once,” the old adage goes.
We explain our position that the case of the BBL is not an ordinary legislation. Its substance does not only reflect the letter and spirit of the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) and Four Annexes and the Addendum on Bangsamoro Waters, but the Parties ensured that the BBL has all the essential elements of these agreements in the proposed law. The deliberation had passed through rigorous and lengthy processes: 17 long years of negotiation, Parties signed the FAB in 2012 and CAB in 2014, the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) crafted the BBL and formally submitted it to the Office of the President, which sent it back to the BTC, which in turn, seeing the revisions on the BBL as “massive’, elevated it to the Peace Panels to resolve, settle, and decide but failed to do so, which prompted the OP and BTC-MILF to take over the deliberation. But the process did not end here. President Aquino and Chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim have to meet in Malacañang to settle the remaining seven contentious issues that culminated the process to produce a mutually agreed version of the BBL, as noted above. But since the BTC is mandated by the Parties and by law through the strength of Executive Order No. 120 to craft the BBL, fourteen out of the 15 commissioners of the BTC (one resigned) had to formally affix their signatures to the proposed BBL. This was the version of the BBL sent to Congress.
Bearing all these factors in mind, the MILF’s position is clear: We welcome an improvement of the BBL. Who does not want an improvement?
But a reminder has to be earnestly said: an improvement to one group may not necessarily be so, to another group. To plug the gap, this is where the spirit of partnership and cooperation between Parties works best.
http://www.luwaran.com/index.php/editorial/item/1422-improvement-of-bbl-yes
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