Malacanang on Monday stressed that the Aquino administration
is firm on its stand for the eventual approval of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic
Law (BBL) to achieve a just and lasting peace in Mindanao .
”There is no alternative to peace. It (war) is too costly
for us,” Presidential Spokesperson Secretary Edwin Lacierda said in a briefing
Monday.
Lacierda said the proposed measure was submitted to Congress
for the lawmakers “to ascertain the parameters of the Bangsamoro judicial
entity, as well as relations between those people who are living within the
entity.”
He said questions about who the law will favor should not be
accommodated because this will be addressed while the proposed measure is being
deliberated in Congress.
”And for that particular reason, Congress — both House and
the Senate — are looking into the legalities and the parameters ensuring that
no one group will be favored,” he said.
There are sectors doubting the eventual passage of the
proposed BBL within the Aquino administration following the death of 44 members
of the Philippine National Police-Special Action Force (PNP-SAF) on Jan. 25,
2015 in Mamasapano, Maguindano, which the government said was due to
“misencounter” with members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
The SAF members were on a mission to serve the arrest
warrants of two suspected terrorists – Filipino bomb maker Abdulbasit Usman and
Malasian Zulkifli bin Hir, also known as Marwan, reportedly a leader of the
terrorist group Jemaah Islamiya (JI).
Lacierda cited that “this is a period of grief, it’s a
period of mourning” but pointed out that “if we are not able to attain peace,
the alternative is just too costly for us.”
He said that from 1972 to 1996, nearly 120,000 people died
because of war in the country while about 982,000 died in 2002 alone when the
government called for an all-out war in Mindanao.
He said violence and injustice will not end if the peace
process will not be pushed through.
He admitted that “it is difficult for us to appreciate why
we need fight for peace in this very emotional state” but also stressed that
“we need to have a just and lasting peace and that’s what we’re trying to
achieve in this Bangsamoro Basic Law.”
”And let the House, let the Senate debate on the Bangsamoro
Basic Law. Let’s not lose sight of the fact that --- we’re near there. Peace
can be achieved but let’s make sure that the peace is just and lasting,” he
said.
The Palace official also assured the public that the
police’s Board of Inquiry, formed to assess what happened in Mamasapano, will
not leave any stones unturned so that justice can be achieved for the SAF
members.
He said that the government remains supportive of both the
PNP and the military as proven by the reforms to uplift their welfare.
He also discounted threats of coup d’état or unrest among
the government’s security forces and that a loyalty checked has been made.
”We’re going to seek why this unfortunate incident happened.
Maybe from there, we’ll be able to find the solutions; maybe we can find
answers and moving forward, actions that – to make sure that these things
should never happen again,” he said.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=731599
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