BBL essential in transition to federalism, says former negotiator to MILF talks

From InterAksyon (Oct 25): BBL essential in transition to federalism, says former negotiator to MILF talks



Former chief government negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer (file)

 Congress should pass the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law to help stabilize Mindanao as the country prepares to transition to federalism through Charter change, the former chief government negotiator to peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front said.

Miriam Coronel Ferrer, under whose watch the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro was reached, said the Duterte administration is on the right track in continuing efforts to pass the BBL ahead of Charter change, but cautioned against allowing the process to take too long.

“It is very important because the non-peace and war situation is a potential for instability and also, you cannot continue with all the other programs that are part of the agreement, the important aspects of which are the socio-economic development and the decommissioning of weapons and combatants,” she said in an interview.

“However, there is the danger that the process will take so long, in fact, to be overtaken by Charter change process and be sidelined by other political developments, so to that extent there is great concern,” she added.

Ferrer said peace advocates, especially in Mindanao, believe the process could be speeded up if Congress immediately passes the proposed BBL, so that the CAB can be implemented and continue to bring peace and development to conflict-affected areas in Central Mindanao.

“This is the concern of many groups, that the pace is a bit slow. Unless we move the process fast enough, then they should probably start rethinking having to rewrite a draft that will take several months to finish and go straight to Congress and work it out there,” she said.

Maguindanao Representative Sandra Sema has re-filed the BBL at the House. The measure was not passed by the 16th Congress. Currently, the measure is still pending at the committee level.

The BBL will allow the creation of the Bangsamoro homeland, seen as a more politically-empowered entity, to replace the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Ferrer urged President Rodrigo Duterte to put his foot down on the immediate passage of the BBL.

“You need the President to say to go this way rather than go to the longer route again and maybe you need an agreement between the MILF and the government to rethink the process that they have already set out because that process is too long, you might lose people to more radical extreme groups in the meantime and you might also create more instabilities that you need now,” she explained.

Ferrer said the Bangsamoro people want to see how the Charter change process will involve them, especially on the issue of federalism.

“They are not against changing the Constitution in principle, but in the process, they want to see it as a process that really involved them … they want to see how much of it will be something that they can own,” she said.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/133650/bbl-essential-in-transition-to-federalism-says-former-negotiator-to-milf-talks