CAB peace pact still intact despite non-passage of BBL

From the Philippine News Agency (Feb 3): CAB peace pact still intact despite non-passage of BBL

The Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) remains a viable signed document that will sustain the momentum of the peace process in Mindanao even without the passage of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), the Philippine government (GPH) peace panel chair said on Wednesday.

In a statement, GPH peace panel chair Miriam Coronel-Ferrer assured that the BBL’s ill-fate under the 16th Congress will not dispel the government’s peace agreement with MILF and waste away 17 years of peace negotiations.

“The work many among us started and accomplished together through 17 years of hard negotiations and vigorous efforts to jump start and move the implementation of the road map cannot be taken away,” said Ferrer.

“The Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) remains a signed document that binds the Government of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front to their respective obligations in order to seal the peace through the legal and democratic processes and meaningful social and political reforms laid out in the document,” she added.

Although the decommissioning of MILF weapons and combatants will be scuttled without the BBL, the CAB still prescribes steps and mechanisms for the transformation of conflict-affected areas and MILF camps into secure, productive communities.

Further, Ferrer said that the “CAB also includes transitional justice and reconciliation measures that will address historical injustices and remove the biases and prejudices that have created the huge gap in understanding and affection between the Filipino majority and minority populations.”

Ferrer urged politicians and Filipino citizens alike to take the time to study the history of the conflict and the peace process to clear any misconception and gain a better understanding of the road map and efforts made to see it through.

Even though the BBL did not make it out of the 16th Congress, the GPH chief negotiator called for “sobriety and perseverance” whilst ensuring that measures are made to smooth the transition of the peace accord to the next administration.

”As members of the GPH negotiating panel, we will do everything in the remaining time we have to ensure that the infrastructure for implementing the peace accord are fully functional so that the next administration will be in a good position to carry forward the full implementation of the agreement,” said Ferrer.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=853685