BBL won’t unify Mindanao stakeholders, insists MNLF

From the Daily Tribune (Oct 27): BBL won’t unify Mindanao stakeholders, insists MNLF

The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) yesterday maintained that the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) of the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is biased against other stakeholders in Mindanao.

Lawyer Emmanuel Fontanilla, spokesman for the MNLF, said contrary to claims by both the government and the MILF leaderships that the BBL would end the decades-long conflict in Mindanao by unifying all stakeholders, the BBL is “an agreement of exclusion.”

He stressed the MNLF, which is the original party of the 1996 Final Peace Agreement (FPA) with the government, was excluded in the BBL.

Fontanilla also said the BBL ignores the recommendation of the powerful Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) to have a “synchronized agreement.”

“The MNLF maintains its stand that the BBL is an agreement of exclusion. It excludes other stakeholders particularly the MNLF which is the original party to the agreement. It set aside resolution of the OIC to synchronize the agreements,” Fontanilla told the Daily Tribune.

“The MNLF does not recognize the BBL nor the MNLF authorize somebody to recognize the same,” he pointed out.

The 1996 FPA between the MNLF, headed by Chairman Nur Misuari, and former President Fidel V. Ramos paved the way for the establishment of the Southern Philippine Council for Peace and Development which was succeeded by the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Under the MILF and GRP peace agreement, the ARMM would be abolished and a new Bangsamoro political entity would be established.

Former Sen. and Ernesto Herrera said the BBL would be “giving way to fragmentation of the country.”

Herrera also warned of the repercussion of the abolition of ARMM.

The President has already forwarded the proposed BBL to Congress last September 10.
Currently, lawmakers are conducting public hearing on the proposed law.
http://www.tribune.net.ph/headlines/bbl-won-t-unify-mindanao-stakeholders-insists-mnlf