President Benigno Aquino III on Monday challenged the retired generals to give their own solution if they claimed the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) and Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) are not the best antidote to the peace and order problem in
President Aquino made statement in reaction to a paid
advertisement and manifesto signed by 31 retired generals of the Armed Forces
of the Philippines
”All of us should join this dialogue. We should be mature
that this is not a good step, there has to be a better step. This is the better
step. Perhaps somebody can even say this is the best step. If it is a good
suggestion, why we should not support it? But if you’ll just criticize, what
benefit it will bring?,” the President said in a media interview after the
inauguration of the Iloilo Convention Center (ICC).
The retired generals, led by Association of Generals and
Flag Officers (AGFO) chairman and president retired Lt. Gen. Edilberto Adan,
have expressed alarm over Framework Agreement on Bangsamoro (FAB) and CAB
forged with Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
They also opposed the passage of the BBL, “in its original
form, even as it now undergoes congressional scrutiny.”
The former generals said the two agreements and the BBL’s
original form violated the Constitution and “seek to establish a political
entity which has all the makings of a state.”
President Aquino said he was surprised by the manifesto of
retired officers even as he expressed his readiness to sit down and get their
suggestions through an open dialogue.
”I was surprised that they have such strong opposition that
came out in this paid ad. I’m open to have dialogue with them. In fact, I know
some of those who signed. Some of them I met lately but they have not mentioned
about it to me,” the President said.
If the retired generals would agree to a dialogue, the
President said he would ask them if they indeed signed the manifesto which was
published in whole page by some major Manila
newspapers on Monday.
”First I will ask them if they really signed it. Secondly,
what’s their specific opposition. Have you really read the proposed law? Have
listen only to the so-called experts? What are the agenda of those experts? The
real open discussion,” the President said.
The BBL is still being tackled both in the House of
Representatives and the Senate where Senator Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr.
submitted a substitute bill which he called Basic Law on Bangsamoro Autonomous
Region (BLBAR).
The Senate is hoping to pass the Bangsamoro bill before the
filing of certificate of candidacy (CoC) next month.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=803863
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