Members of the House ad hoc committee on the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) on Sunday said they are optimistic that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front's (MILF) decommissioning of arms will prompt Congress to expedite the approval of the BBL.
"I appeal to my colleagues in the House and the Senate, especially to Senator Bongbong Marcos, to pass the BBL in the soonest possible time as this is the foundation in the roadmap to peace. We cannot move forward and bring the peace that our people desire and deserve without passing the BBL," Sulu Rep. Tupay Loong, vice chair of the House committee, said.
Senator Marcos, the chairman of the Senate committee on local government, earlier junked the Malacañang-drafted BBL and said he intends to propose a substitute bill.
Loong said the symbolic decommissioning set on June 16 shows the MILF's commitment to establishing lasting peace in Mindanao.
"There are still other armed groups with weapons on the ground, yet the MILF is already willing to begin decommissioning for the sake of peace in Mindanao," he said.
Government peace panel chair Miriam Coronel-Ferrer earlier said that the first phase of decommissioning or rendering MILF fighting units "beyond use" and returning their fighters to civilian life will begin on June 16.
Phase one of the decommissioning process, Ferrer said, will begin with the ceremonial turnover of 55 high-powered firearms and 20 crew-served weapons, and the decommissioning of 145 members of the MILF's Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces.
President Benigno Aquino III is expected to be the guest of honor at the symbolic turnover, which will be done at the old Capitol building in Maguindanao.
Committee vice-chair and Misamis Occidental Rep. Henry Oaminal also urged Congress "to move with urgency" on the BBL, saying that the decomissioning process will move along with the pace of Congress on getting the BBL passed.
Last week, Congress adjourned sine die without voting on the BBL and failed to meet its self-imposed deadline of having the proposed law passed this month.
Gradual decommissioning is part of the Annex on Normalization signed by the MILF and the government last January 2014.
Firearms will be turned over to the Independent Decommissioning Body, while decommissioned combatants will serve as pioneers and help gauge the success rate of the normalization process.
Firearms will be turned over to the Independent Decommissioning Body, while decommissioned combatants will serve as pioneers and help gauge the success rate of the normalization process.
Secretary Hermino Coloma, Jr. of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) said the decommissioned combatants will receive cash assistance as well as PhilHealth cards.
"Ang isasakatuparang decommissioning ay isusulong na sabay at kasukat sa pagpapatupad ng iba pang kasunduan sa pagitan ng MILF at ng pamahalaan," Coloma said in a radio interview.
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