The MILF said the peace process should now be in the “implementation mode” since the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), which the group believes would address the Mindanao problem, has been signed. STAR/File photo
Consultations on the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) have been sufficient and it’s time to implement the deal, according to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
The MILF issued the statement on its website amid reports that the Duterte administration wanted further discussions on the peace process roadmap.
The MILF said the peace process should now be in the “implementation mode” since the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), which the group believes would address the Mindanao problem, has been signed.
The CAB, signed by the Aquino administration and the MILF in 2014, will serve as the basis of the BBL, which aims to create a new Bangsamoro region with enhanced autonomy.
“Consultations for this proposed law have already been virtually over. All that should be done is to revisit or use the inputs of these consultations or hearings, in the case of Congress, to fast-track the legislative roadmap or process,” the MILF said in an editorial posted on luwaran.com.
Earlier, Davao del Norte representative-elect Pantaleon Alvarez, Duterte’s choice for House speaker, said the talks with the Moros are back to “square one” and that there is no need to tackle the BBL because it would be subsumed by the planned shift to federalism.
The MILF said the peace negotiators from both sides, civil society, religious, educational and business groups have conducted 625 consultation meetings throughout the country from 2014 to 2015.
“Many of the provisions of the BBL were culled from inputs from these consultations. The Senate and Lower House of Congress have also conducted numerous hearings.
The BBL had been with them for more than a year when it was formally submitted to them during a ceremony in Malacañang Palace on September 10, 2014,” the group said.
The MILF said any consultation asking the same people or repeating the same issues would only slow down, if not stifle, the legislative process.
“More seriously, if those to be asked are those who harbor strong anti-Moro prejudices, biases, hatred, the outcome is already predicted,” it added.
The MILF, however, clarified that it is not expecting president-elect Rodrigo Duterte and his designated peace adviser Dureza to delay the enactment of BBL.
“Duterte had solemnly pledged during the presidential campaign in May this year that he would solve the ‘legitimate grievances’ of the Bangsamoro people and ‘nothing,’ he said further, ‘can satisfy them except passing the BBL,’” the MILF said.
“We hold on to this promise as sacred, and we believe in him. All his close friends for years whom we talked to attested to his loyalty to friendship, and once he commits, he fulfils (his commitment).”
One of the priority measures of the outgoing Aquino administration, the BBL was bypassed by the 16th Congress. The MILF noted that under the CAB, the decommissioning of its weapons and combatants would not be realized if the BBL does not move in the legislature.
In a meeting with Duterte here last Friday, MILF leaders informed the incoming president that they would want to see the BBL enacted first before the form of government is changed from unitary to federal. The group said it would take time before the CAB is implemented if the creation of the Bangsamoro government is subsumed by efforts to push for federalism.
“We told him (Duterte) that we are not against federalism per se but we believe we can be more of help to the federal government of the Philippines if the Bangsamoro (government) is implemented first. He listened to our explanation,” MILF vice chairman for political affairs Ghadzali Jaafar told The STAR in a phone interview.
The group is open to refining the draft BBL to ensure its early passage in Congress.
http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/06/20/1594769/milf-time-implement-bbl
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