MILF blames OPAPP for shelved BBL

From The Daily Tribune (Jan 31): MILF blames OPAPP for shelved BBL

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has blamed the Aquino administration, primarily the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) for the failure of Congress to pass the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).

Both Speaker Feliciano Belmonte and Senate President Franklin Drilon had surrendered that the BBL is dead citing the narrow window left until the end of the current session of Congress.

MILF vice chairman Ghadzali Jaafar, in a television interview, blamed the lack of political will in the Aquino administration for the shelved BBL.

“I was told that one of the weaknesses or shortcoming they saw was in the leadership of OPAPP who presumed that Congress will follow the (peace) agreement signed,” Jaafar said.

Jaafar claimed a source told him that the OPAPP did not exert enough effort to come to an agreement with lawmakers.

“Although the MILF regret the lost opportunity, we are not sad and we do not mourn the inability of Congress to pass the proposed law for the Bangsamoro government,” he said. He said the MILF leadership is intact and the rebel group continues to be strong.

“At this point in the struggle, our aim is to maintain and preserve our gains in the negotiations,” Jaafar said.

The MILF, meanwhile, said it may not take up the proposal of Sen. Chiz Escudero for the rebel group to guard the electricity grid in Mindanao which was the target lately of bombing attacks.

In its website, the MILF said “securing the transmission lines of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) for people to continue access to power can well be a recommended act but for the MILF to simply announce that we commit to help secure these lines is more problematic than what meets the eye.”

Both the short and long term implications and complications have far-reaching effects, it said.
The MILF said if the bombing stops, “then some people might suspect that the MILF is behind the act, because it had stopped it if the bombing continues, then the MILF would be pictured as inutile or has not done enough to prevent it from happening.

“Damn if you do, damn if you don’t is still the rule here,” it said.

Pan de sal issue revived

The MILF also denied involvement in the bombings saying it has nothing to gain from the destruction of the power network.

“We are upholding the integrity of the ceasefire and the peace process,” it added.

“More importantly, the MILF is not yet a full-fledged partner or part of the state; peace partners, yes. The proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) is still pending in Congress and its non-passage is more expected than its passage,” it added.

“The success of this undertaking is still contingent to other considerations, say a good and effective Bangsamoro police, because by that time, the MILF weapons and combatants are decommissioned already,” it added.

The MILF, nonetheless, commended Escudero for issuing the proposal saying that “an admission of the capability of the Moros to do more difficult tasks than just being able to bake pan de sal.”

The MILF recalled that “in 2008 at the time the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MoA-AD) was under intense discourse. . .he said that the Moros do not even know how to bake pan de sal, and therefore not fit to run a government.”

“If the NGCP is really serious in seeking the intervention of the MILF, then perhaps the better part of judgment is to send a formal request for a meeting, or better still, to send someone to discuss the issue with the MILF,” it said.

“In such a way, any agreement can be part of the overall scheme to promote peace in the region, and can be linked to relevant organs of the GPH-MILF peace process especially the ceasefire committees of the government and MILF. The MILF is not expert in making casual arrangements,” it added.

http://www.tribune.net.ph/headlines/milf-blames-opapp-for-shelved-bbl