MILF on House, Senate BBL drafts: ‘Not acceptable”

From the Daily Tribune (Jun 14): MILF on House, Senate BBL drafts: ‘Not acceptable”

By all indications, the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will reject both the Senate and House versions of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) even as its officials indicated that the rebel group has not made a final decision on whether or not it will back the bill.

MILF chairman Mohagher Iqbal said in the MILF’s luwaran Web site that “the position of the MILF is very clear. Knowing fully well the mandate of Congress. . . its plenary powers, we welcome enhancement and improvement of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL). We leave to Congress how to do that.”

He, nonetheless, said the secessionist group disagreed with the plan of Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., chairman of the Senate local governments committee which is deliberating on the BBL, to just amend Republic Act 9054 or the Organic Law of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) as a substitute bill for the BBL.

Iqbal said the MILF leadership will decide whether to accept or reject the BBL after its enactment, but right now the MILF is leaving no stone unturned for its passage.

“We have extensive engagements with legislators, so we cannot blame ourselves later on,” he said.
“Let Senator Bongbong Marcos do what makes him happy,” Iqbal stressed.

An MILF leader also criticized the House version of the BBL or the Basic Law for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (BLBAR) for deleting the opt-in provision in the Palace draft of the bill.

Khaled Musa, deputy chairman of the MILF information department, told luwaran that this act of the House could trigger negative reactions, not only from the rank-and-file of the MILF but also from the Bangsamoro people themselves.

“Our people are not happy with the report of the Ad Hoc Committee of the Lower House,” he said, adding that over-all “(the bill) is 50 percent bad.”

He warned Congress of the dire consequences of their decision, which deprived of Moros and indigenous peoples in “contiguous and proximate” areas to become part of the Bangsamoro territory in the future.

Iqbal made it clear he has full respect for Marcos but said he disagreed with his plans to amend the ARMM Law.

“So, my personal view, is what makes Senator Bongbong Marcos happy, let him just do it,” Iqbal said.

Iqbal added the proposed BBL is a product of 17 years of peace negotiations with the Philippine government (GPH), three major wars, so many battles, and thousands of deaths.

“Then, all of a sudden one man comes up and undo the work of many,” Iqbal said.

“This time I don’t believe that one man is better than many,” said Iqbal, alluding to the 15 members of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC), consisting of eight representatives from the MILF and seven from government; legal luminaries, Malacañang legal counsels, among others who went through the draft BBL.

Iqbal added that those who crafted the BBL knew what they were doing, adding the BTC has members from the Moro ethnic groups, Indigenous People (IP), a Christian, and some lawyers.

Iqbal reiterated that what has been said by MILF leaders on the BBL. “No BBL is better than a bad BBL. What Marcos is going to do just amend ARMM law is not acceptable,” he said.

Iqbal said a Supreme Court decision thumbed down the ARMM as only an administrative region, not autonomous.

So what is lacking in the ARMM, and the best in the ARMM were incorporated in the BBL when it was drafted.

Iqbal said he heard he was being invited by Marcos to join him in coming up with an amendatory law. However, Iqbal said he is not inclined to accept the invitation, though there is no official word yet from the senator, whose father is being blamed by Moros for the Mindanao conflict and many massacres of Moros at the height of the war.

Iqbal recalled that the primary objective of the peace talks between the Moro groups with the government, starting with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in the 1970s, was to resolve the Mindanao conflict and address the aspiration of the Bangsamoro people for self-determination.
Only for Bangsamoro.

Musa said even with the opt-in provision in the BBL, migrants’ cities and provinces in Mindanao do not stand the chance of being part of the Bangsamoro, because only Moros and indigenous peoples are extended such privilege.

He said Congress has given legitimate reason for those outside of the Bangsamoro to assert their rights in many ways, which he did not elaborate.

He also echoed the earlier statement of Sheikh Mohammad Muntassir, chair of the MILF Da’wah Committee, that the deletion of the original provision of the BBL on natural resources and it reclassified them as all “strategic minerals including all potential sources of energy”, and therefore, the Bangsamoro has no clear share in the revenues is a serious violation of the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) and the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB).

“This is unacceptable,” he warned.

Musa appealed to Congress to restore the original provision of the BBL on fossil fuel and metallic minerals.

He also appealed to Cong. Rufus Rodriguez, chair of the Ad Hoc Committee, and reportedly a lawyer of the energy sector in Mindanao, to be fair at all times.

http://www.tribune.net.ph/headlines/milf-on-house-senate-bbl-drafts-not-acceptable