‘Malacañang promised too much to MILF’

From the Business Mirror (Jan 24): ‘Malacañang promised too much to MILF’

Malacañang is to blame for “promising too much” to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) should the failure of Congress to enact the Bangsamoro basic law (BBL) become the effective recruitment cause for followers of the Islamic State (IS), which claims to have gathered a small following from the mostly young population of the Moro land, a social scientist said.

“The BBL would now become the rallying point for those who don’t really believe that the government could carry out its promise on bringing peace to Mindanao, even as the armed movement among them has agreed to try the peace process,” said Aries A. Arugay, executive director of the Institute for Strategic and Development Studies, and who also teaches political science at the Diliman campus of the University of the Philippines.

“Now that President Aquino is nearing the end of his term, many congressmen would probably just sit down as a new president takes over the problem of a more discontented, and probably more angry Moro population,” he said.

For advocates of war against the government, “this should be a very strong argument to tell those who believe in the peace process that they were all wrong all along for towing the line of Malacañang.”

“The failure to pass the BBL would be the best recruiter for the Isis [Islamic State of Iraq and Syria],” he added.

Arugay said the Aquino administration could never force representatives from Luzon to take a serious look at the problem in Mindanao because of their own concern with their respective constituencies, which has repeatedly resulted in the failure to have a quorum to decide on the BBL.

Although the leaderships of both chambers of Congress have announced that the BBL was still up for approval, legislators, particularly members of the House of Representatives, continue to be absent from sessions.

The government Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (Opapp) has also said that it was not giving up.

“Even if we experience difficult challenges in pursuing the passage of the BBL, both parties will pursue this peace process,” said  Al Julkipli, a member of the legal team of the government peace panel.

“No one is giving up. Both parties are still working toward  achieving the objectives of the peace process, which is to pass a meaningful BBL that [will] address the two main problems [of keeping security and improving governance] in Mindanao,” Julkipli said.

“If these two problems would be significantly addressed, we believe the entire Philippines would ultimately benefit. That is why we are still continuously coordinating and lobbying with the legislators. We are always ready to provide our support and technical assistance in defense of and in explaining the contents of the BBL in its original form.”

Last year the Opapp also raised similar appeal to Congress, to pass the BBL or risk heightening extremism among a section of the Filipino Muslims in Mindanao.

Julkipli was in the provincial capitol of Lanao del Sur in Marawi last week and told a multisectoral audience that “the BBL could still be passed by Congress, despite the limited time remaining before it adjourns for the election campaign.”

The Opapp also said that Centrist Democratic Party Rep. Rufus B. Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro,  has announced that the House had set the voting on the bill on January 27.

Rodriguez is the chairman of the House Ad-Hoc Committee on the BBL.

“We have set the voting on Wednesday. As long as we have a quorum, the voting will push through,” Opapp quoted Rodriguez as saying.

Julkipli added that regardless of what happens to the BBL, “[w]e should remain calm. We should approach this in the most active and most passionate way, in the most peaceful way that we can.”

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/malacanang-promised-too-much-to-milf/