MILF rebels restive as BBL hangs in Congress

From the Manila Bulletin (Oct 28): MILF rebels restive as BBL hangs in Congress

Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) combatants have reportedly become “restive” over the uncertainty being encountered by the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) in Congress, according to a member of the rebel group’s peace panel.

Robert Maulana Alonto disclosed that there were “signs of restiveness” within the MILF ranks that has spurred “heated discussions on whether the BBL could still make it or not.”

“They are becoming hopeless of the situation and questioning whether peace negotiation with the government is still the way to peace,” said Alonto.

He revealed that MILF members in Lanao del Sur and Central Mindanao have started to grow impatient about the passage of the BBL.

Datu Michael Mastura, a former congressman who is a direct descendant of Moro hero Sultan Kudarat, painted a grimmer picture as he said that should the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) between the MILF and the government remain unimplemented without the passage of the BBL, then it could be “back to hostilities” between the Philippines and the rebel group.

“Without the CAB (FAB is contained in the CAB), then there will be no ceasefire either between the MILF and the GPH (Government of the Philippienes). We don’t want that to happen and our people made to suffer again,” Mastura said.

Mastura recently filed a motion to intervene and defend the CAB and the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) before the Supreme Court after these were challenge by the Philippine Constitutional Association (Philconsa).

Last Tuesday, he filed an 80-page comment with the High Court by defending the FAB and the CAB, Mastura, a lawyer and former congressman of Maguindanao, he filed on Tuesday an 80-page “Comment in Intervention” in the case Philconsa, et. al, vs GPH represented by Marvic Leonen, MILF represented by Mohagher Iqbal.

Among the positions he took was that the CAB and FAB “were all about the resolution of the Bangsamoro question and the right of the Bangsamoro people to self-determination as First Sovereigns with their own historical narrative.”

These developed as Zamboanga City Rep. Celso Lobregat averred that the BBL may no longer be passed in the current Congress “due to insufficient time to discuss the measure.”

“(The House version of the BBL) has to be reconciled with the version of the Senate, which is very different from the BBL draft submitted to us by Malacañang,” he said.

And considering that the campaign period for the May, 2016 elections is fast approaching, Lobregat said there was no more time left for the BBL to be passed.

“The first deadline (to pass the BBL) was in June, before the adjournment of the second regular session. The second was before we went on our first recess on October 10, but that is no longer possible because we will tackle the 2016 budget. December 16, before the Christmas break is the new deadline,” he said.

http://www.mb.com.ph/milf-rebels-restive-as-bbl-hangs-in-congress/