MILF: BTC submits final report to PNOY

Posted to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front Website (Jun 24): BTC submits final report to PNOY



Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) Chairman Mohagher Iqbal handed over on Wednesday (June 22) the Commission’s final narrative report to outgoing President Benigno Aquino III in Malacanan Palace.

The 238-page report enumerates all sessions, consultations and advocacy works done by the BTC since April 2013 up to the present, but the bulk of it contains the initial draft Bangsamoro Administrative Code and a draft bill on the Code of Parliamentary Procedures and
Practices of the Bangsamoro Parliament.

On August 20, 2015 President Aquino issued Executive Order No. 187 directing BTC to commence the drafting of the two above-cited codes as additional functions, both “for the consideration of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority.”

BTC’s main task was the drafting of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) which it has finished on April 20, 2014. The “agreed version” of the BBL was transmitted by Pres. Aquino on September 10 of that year to the Senate and House of Representatives but it was not enacted into law by the 16th Congress of the Philippines.

In the said meeting, Iqbal told the outgoing President that they are “unfazed” inspite of the non-passage of a CAB-compliant BBL and that they will still “pursue the path to peace because the commitment to do so lives on in each of us.” CAB is the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro and is the source of the contents of the BBL.

Pres. Aquino said he “shares the frustration” over the non-passage of the draft BBL but that he believes most of the difficulties have been overcome.

“None can afford to become a stumbling block in the absence of an alternative to the status quo,” the President said.

Iqbal conveyed their “best wishes” to Pres. Aquino and expressed that the latter would continue to contribute to their quest to bring just and lasting peace to Mindanao in whatever capacity or role Aquino takes on in the future.  

Iqbal was joined by 11 of the 12 remaining BTC commissioners, namely Ibrahim Ali, Said Sheik, Melanio Ulama, Hussein Muñoz, Abdulla Camlian, Raissa Jajurie, Akmad Sakkam, Asani Tammang, Talib Benito, Froilyn Mendoza and Pedrito Eisma. Comm. Robert Maulana Alonto was absent in the farewell visit to Pres. Aquino.

Of the 15 members originally comprising the BTC in 2013, two have already taken other positions in the government. They are Atty. Johaira Wahab and Comm. Fatmawati Salapuddin who are now in the Department of Foreign Affairs and NCMF, respectively. Both were government nominees in the BTC.

BTC status

Legally, the BTC continues to exist unless the executive orders that created it – EO 120 series of 2012 and EO 187 series of 2015 – would be repealed, revoked or amended.

Consistent with item 5, letter A, part II of the Annex on Transitional Arrangements and Modalities, EO 187 provides that the operation of BTC is until the ratification of the BBL in a plebiscite to be called for such purpose.

The BTC has a unique composition, with 8 commissioners including the Chairman selected and nominated by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and 7 by the Government of the Philippines (GPH).

But since the Chairman and Commissioners are co-terminous with Pres. Aquino, they are already preparing to vacate their posts come June 30.

BTC forms part of the transition mechanisms agreed by the GPH and MILF in the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) and further spelled out in the Annex on Transitional Arrangements and Modalities.

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