MILF: There is a chance to pass the BBL if the lawmakers have the will: MILF

Posted to the MILF Website (Jan 25): There is a chance to pass the BBL if the lawmakers have the will: MILF



“If the lawmakers have the will to pass the BBL, there is a chance to pass it,” Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Central Committee Chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim said during a press conference held at Camp Darapanan, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao on January 24, 2015.

The MILF Chair hoped that the reopening of the Mamasapano investigation in Senate will not affect the passage of the proposed measure which will provide the establishment of the Bangsamoro autonomous government as enshrined in the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB).

“For the MILF, the Mamasapano incident is a closed case,” he said. Ebrahim noted the International Monitoring Team and the Department of Justice did their respective investigations adding, “Even the MILF has completed its investigation.”

He described the Mamasapano encounter, where 44 members of Special Action Force (SAF), 18 MILF combatants and five civilians died, as “unfortunate incident that should have not happened.”

The event happened on January 25 last year when members of the SAF conducting an operation to capture or neutralize wanted Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan, clashed with the members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (MILF’s military wing) and other armed groups at Mamasapano.

It also delayed the deliberation of the BBL in the Senate and House of Representatives.

The MILF leader appealed to the lawmakers to give importance to the proposed legislation. The Front reiterates that the BBL should be compliant with the CAB for it will give meaningful autonomous government for the Bangsamoro.

Ebrahim said at stake with the BBL passage is the fate not only of the entire Bangsamoro people but of the Filipino people as well.

The MILF and the Philippine government signed the CAB in a bid to end the decades of conflict Mindanao that has claimed thousands of lives. The peace deal drew support from the international communities.

The press conference culminated the MILF-HWPL (Heavenly Culture, World Peace and Restoration of Light) International Peace Summit which gathered the Korean peace activists and thousands of Bangsamoro people at Camp Darapanan.

http://www.luwaran.com/index.php/new/item/808-there-is-a-chance-to-pass-the-bbl-if-the-lawmakers-have-the-will-milf