Monday, January 4, 2016

OPAPP hits ground running in pushing for BBL passage

From the Manila Bulletin (Jan 5): OPAPP hits ground running in pushing for BBL passage

The Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) will continue pushing for the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) despite uncertainties and challenges as political lines are drawn with the looming 2016 national elections.


We should hit the ground running. This last six months are going to move … fast [during which] we will face challenges,” OPAPP Secretary Teresita Q. Deles said.
This January, we are looking forward, working hard and praying harder, that we will see the passage of [the] BBL when Congress resumes (sessions).”

Deles said passage of the BBL would ease discussions during the upcoming ministerial meeting this month in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on the Tripartite Review Process (TRP) on the implementation of the 1996 Final Peace Agreement between the Philippine government (GPH) and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

The House leadership is hopeful that they will be able to muster a quorum and finish the process. This is a message that we should not give up hope and we need to keep pushing for the completion of the most important milestone on the peace table.”
 
As stipulated in the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) signed between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), two separate components will run through its implementation simultaneously; the political process that will lead to the establishment of the Bangsamoro political entity to replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) through the enactment of an enabling law which is the BBL, and the normalization process which seeks to restore communities affected by decades-long armed conflict to peaceful and civilian lives.
Once all provisions in the CAB have been implemented, both sides will sign an exit agreement.

In a statement, GPH peace panel chair Prof. Miriam Coronel-Ferrer said the government and MILF will remain steadfast in upholding the ceasefire in pursuit of lasting peace in the southern Philippines since both parties are committed to isolating groups that continue to foment violence in Mindanao.

The best thing about the peace process between the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is that the two parties have not gone back to war,” she said. “We are gradually transforming the lives of the people on the ground, nurturing their hopes and dreams for a better future. And we are so close to putting firmly in place the needed institutional reforms to realize meaningful autonomy and democracy in the Bangsamoro.”

The government chief peace negotiator said both peace panels will continue to collaborate in strengthening the joint mechanisms, and building mutual trust and confidence among and between their respective organizations.

“In rising to the tasks before us, we have fortified our confidence in the process. We shall continue to carry on in order to get to our destination sooner than later,” Ferrer said.

http://www.mb.com.ph/opapp-hits-ground-running-in-pushing-for-bbl-passage-deles/

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