Palace wants BBL resonating past gov’t, MILF agreements

From the Daily Tribune (Sep 12): Palace wants BBL resonating past gov’t, MILF agreements

Upon the warning of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that the decommissioning process would be affected should a watered-down Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) be passed, Malacañang yesterday called on Congress to craft a measure closer to the previous agreements of the government with the rebel group.

Deputy presidential spokesman Abigail Valte issued the statement as an apparent heed to the warning of the MILF on Thursday that it will not accept any version that veers away from the past pacts like the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB).

“The relationship between the normalization process and the passage of the BBL is clear in the CAB… That is why we are working hard on the passage of the BBL that is consistent with the CAB,” Valte said.

The Palace official expressed confidence that Congress indeed understands the weight of the CAB in crafting the BBL, as respective versions of the bill in both the Senate and the House of Representatives remains stagnant and housing provisions different from the Malacañang-drafted BBL.

The government and the MILF started the decommissioning of the MILF’s armed members and firearms in Maguindanao in June. MILF will continue to surrender arms if certain provisions on its prior agreement with the government on the BBL will be met.

As far as the MILF is concerned, a watered-down or diluted BBL will be the worst-case scenario of the current run of the bill in Congress.

In a statement, the MILF said that it is not protesting the number of deleted, substituted or amended provisions, but is outright opposed to “the aspect of natural resources,” which it claimed “can make the BBL diluted and would force the MILF to reject it.”

The group noted the uselessness of the Bangsamoro political entity “if it has no access or power over or share of the revenues derived from the natural resources,” as it claimed that both the House and Senate versions have “deleted or seriously diluted this provision.”

The BBL is the centerpiece of the Aquino government’s peace initiative with the MILF, which will form a new autonomous entity in place of the Autonomous Region in the Muslim Mindanao which it described as a failed experiment.

Both the Senate and the House have their own versions of the bill at plenary, as the passage is hampered by a lack of quorum in the House.

http://www.tribune.net.ph/nation/palace-wants-bbl-resonating-past-gov-t-milf-agreements