MNLF faction suggests Cha-cha to pave way for Bangsamoro law

From GMA News (Jan 20): MNLF faction suggests Cha-cha to pave way for Bangsamoro law

The chairman of one of the factions within the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) has backed proposals for Charter Change (Chacha) to pave the way for the passage of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) amid questions on the bill’s constitutionality.

 

Datu HJ. Abul Khayr Alonto appealed to lawmakers Tuesday to consider amending the 1987 Constitution to resolve any constitutional infirmities in the Bangsamoro bill.

 

“If there are indeed constitutional infirmities in the BBL, then let us raise and address them now so that our nation may be made aware that the time to amend the Constitution has come,” he said at the hearing of the House ad hoc committee on the Bangsamoro bill.

 

House ad hoc panel on the BBL chair Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez earlier admitted there are some questionable provisions in the Bangsamoro bill, such as the delegation of the duties of constitutional bodies to the envisioned Bangsamoro political entity. 

 

Alonto expressed support for the creation of a federal parliamentary form of government, saying it will result in the attainment of genuine peace, justice and freedom.

 

“A federation can enhance national unity in diversity, strengthen the mechanism of transparency and accountability in good governance and usher in a truly equitable development, progress and prosperity in the Philippines,” he said.

 

Notably absent from the hearing were representatives from the MNLF faction led by founding chairman Nur Misuari and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), which have opposed the proposed BBL.

 

While Alonto proposed several changes to the Bangsamoro bill, he said he and the entire MNLF Central Committee and Bangsamoro Army Command Staff Conference of Field Commanders are supportive of the proposal to create a new political entity to replace the existing Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

 

“The immediate passage of the BBL will be in consonance with our inherent and inalienable right to self-determination as a people with a distinct cultural identity,” he said.

Alonto is a founding leader of the MNLF and first vice chairman of the original MNLF Central Committee. Early last year, he was elected chair of one of the four factions of the group by 35 out of the 39 surviving members of the original panel.

 

Also in 2014, he and Moro Islamic Liberation Front chair Al Haj Murad Ebrahim signed a statement of support for the full implementation of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro, which served as the basis for drafting the Bangsamoro bill.

The BBL, once passed by Congress and upheld in a plebiscite in the proposed core territory, will formalize the creation of the Bangsamoro political entity that will enjoy an enhanced political and fiscal autonomy.

 

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/411530/news/nation/mnlf-faction-suggests-cha-cha-to-pave-way-for-bangsamoro-law